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Violence sparked by film spreads in Muslim nations
Source: Agencies |
September 15, 2012, Saturday
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ANGRY demonstrations against an anti-Islam film spread to their widest extent yet around the Middle East and other Muslim countries yesterday, as protesters smashed into the German Embassy in the Sudanese capital and security forces in Egypt and Yemen fired tear gas and clashed with protesters to keep them away from US embassies.
One protester was killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in clashes with security forces, after a crowd of protesters set fire to a KFC and an Arby's restaurant. Protesters hurled stones and glass at police in a furious melee that left 25 people wounded, 18 of them police.
Protests were held in cities from Egypt to Pakistan after weekly Muslim prayers, where many clerics in their mosques sermons denounced an obscure movie produced in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad. The spread of protests comes after attacks earlier this week on US embassies in Cairo and the Yemeni capital Sanaa and on a US consulate in Libya, where the ambassador and three other Americans were killed.
After security forces earlier this week stood aside in the face of protesters, Yemen and Egypt made efforts yesterday to contain them. In an apparent attempt to patch up strained ties with the United States, Egypt's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, went on state TV and urged Muslims to protect foreign diplomatic missions.
In Sudan, a prominent sheik on state radio urged protesters to march on the German Embassy to protest alleged anti-Muslim graffiti on mosques in Berlin and then to the US Embassy.
"America has long been an enemy to Islam and to Sudan," Sheik Mohammed Jizouly said.
Soon after, several hundred Sudanese stormed into the German Embassy, burning a car parked behind its gates and setting fire to trash cans. Protesters danced and celebrated around the burning barrels as palls of black smoke billowed into the sky.
Police firing tear gas drove protesters out of the compound. Some began to demonstrate outside the British Embassy, shouting slogans, while others left, apparently heading to the American Embassy outside of the capital.
In east Jerusalem, Israeli police stopped a crowd of around 400 Palestinians from marching on the US consulate to protest the film. Demonstrators threw bottles and stones at police, who responded by firing stun grenades.
Security forces in Yemen shot live rounds in the air and fired tear gas at a crowd of around 2,000 protesters trying to march to the US Embassy in the capital, Sanaa. Though outnumbered by protesters, security forces were able to keep the crowd about a block away from the mission.
A day earlier, hundreds of protesters chanting "death to America" stormed the embassy compound in Sanaa and burned the American flag. The embassy said nobody was harmed. Yemen's president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, quickly apologized to the United States and vowed to track down the culprits.
In Egypt, several hundred protesters massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square after weekly prayers and tore up an American flag, waving a black, Islamist flag.
Ahead of the clashes, the president spoke for more than seven minutes on state TV, saying, "It is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work."
"So I call on all to consider this, consider the law, and not attack embassies, consulates, diplomatic missions or Egyptian property that is private or public," he said.
The movie, called "Innocence of Muslims," ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.
One protester was killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in clashes with security forces, after a crowd of protesters set fire to a KFC and an Arby's restaurant. Protesters hurled stones and glass at police in a furious melee that left 25 people wounded, 18 of them police.
Protests were held in cities from Egypt to Pakistan after weekly Muslim prayers, where many clerics in their mosques sermons denounced an obscure movie produced in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Muhammad. The spread of protests comes after attacks earlier this week on US embassies in Cairo and the Yemeni capital Sanaa and on a US consulate in Libya, where the ambassador and three other Americans were killed.
After security forces earlier this week stood aside in the face of protesters, Yemen and Egypt made efforts yesterday to contain them. In an apparent attempt to patch up strained ties with the United States, Egypt's Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, went on state TV and urged Muslims to protect foreign diplomatic missions.
In Sudan, a prominent sheik on state radio urged protesters to march on the German Embassy to protest alleged anti-Muslim graffiti on mosques in Berlin and then to the US Embassy.
"America has long been an enemy to Islam and to Sudan," Sheik Mohammed Jizouly said.
Soon after, several hundred Sudanese stormed into the German Embassy, burning a car parked behind its gates and setting fire to trash cans. Protesters danced and celebrated around the burning barrels as palls of black smoke billowed into the sky.
Police firing tear gas drove protesters out of the compound. Some began to demonstrate outside the British Embassy, shouting slogans, while others left, apparently heading to the American Embassy outside of the capital.
In east Jerusalem, Israeli police stopped a crowd of around 400 Palestinians from marching on the US consulate to protest the film. Demonstrators threw bottles and stones at police, who responded by firing stun grenades.
Security forces in Yemen shot live rounds in the air and fired tear gas at a crowd of around 2,000 protesters trying to march to the US Embassy in the capital, Sanaa. Though outnumbered by protesters, security forces were able to keep the crowd about a block away from the mission.
A day earlier, hundreds of protesters chanting "death to America" stormed the embassy compound in Sanaa and burned the American flag. The embassy said nobody was harmed. Yemen's president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, quickly apologized to the United States and vowed to track down the culprits.
In Egypt, several hundred protesters massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square after weekly prayers and tore up an American flag, waving a black, Islamist flag.
Ahead of the clashes, the president spoke for more than seven minutes on state TV, saying, "It is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work."
"So I call on all to consider this, consider the law, and not attack embassies, consulates, diplomatic missions or Egyptian property that is private or public," he said.
The movie, called "Innocence of Muslims," ridicules the Prophet Muhammad.
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