Deadly anti-US protests spread through Muslim world
By the 15/09/2012 - 11:27
Angry demonstrations and riots over an anti-Islamic film escalated across the
Muslim world on Friday and spilled over into Saturday, killing several people
and reaching as far as Sydney and the Maldives, as police struggled to protect
US embassies.
AFP
Latest developments:
In Sydney hundreds of protesters clashed with police and hurled shoes at
the US consulate.
At least six protesters died overnight Friday in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon
and Sudan as police there battled to defend American embassies from mobs.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a NATO base in
southern Afghanistan where Britain's Prince Harry is posted.
Protests erupted in cities with large Muslim populations in countries as
far away as Malaysia, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, India and the Maldives.
The bodies of US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other embassy
staff were returned to the US late on Friday. President Barack Obama vowed
again to "bring to justice those who took them [the four victims] from us".
In California, police arrested Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in connection with
the obscure film that triggered the protests. Nakoula was escorted to an
interview with federal officers for questioning.
Global anger
Australia became the latest country to witness the protests when a mob of angry
demonstrators took to the US consulate in Sydney, throwing shoes and waving
banners reading "behead all those who insult the Prophet".
On the same day, hundreds of people gathered outside the UN building in the
Maldives, but left peacefully after a few hours.
In north Africa and the Middle East meanwhile, overnight clashes resulted in at
least six deaths and hundreds of injuries, as protesters across the region
fought with police as they tried to protect US missions.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a heavy attack
on a NATO base in Helmund province in which two US Marines and 16 attackers
were killed. Britain's Prince Harry is posted at the base but was unharmed.
On Friday, Sudanese demonstrators broke into the German embassy in Khartoum and
hoisted an Islamic flag, while one person was killed in protests in the
northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where a KFC fast-food restaurant was
attacked.
Rallies against the film were also staged on Friday in Egypt, Yemen,
Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
Protesters clashed with police near the U.S. embassy in Cairo before a
nationwide protest called by the Muslim Brotherhood which propelled Egypt's
Islamist president Mohamed Mursi to power.
Police in the Sudanese capital fired tear gas to try to disperse 5,000
protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. A
Reuters witness said police stood by as a crowd forced its way into Germany's
mission.
Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters "there is no
God but God and Mohammed is his prophet". They smashed windows, cameras and
furniture in the building and then started a fire.
Staff at Germany's embassy were safe "for the moment", Foreign Minister Guido
Westerwelle said in Berlin. He also told Khartoum's envoy to Berlin that Sudan
must protect diplomatic missions on its soil.
Witnesses said police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters to stop them
approaching the U.S. embassy outside Khartoum.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry had criticised Germany for allowing a protest last
month by right-wing activists carrying caricatures of the Prophet and for
Chancellor Angela Merkel giving an award in 2010 to a Danish cartoonist who
depicted the Prophet in 2005 triggering protests across the Islamic world.
Californian arrested over incendiary film
In California, police arrested a man in relation to the obscure US-made film
that triggered the protests. Previously convicted of bank fraud, Nakoula
Basseley Nakoula was escorted to an interview with federal officers for
questioning. On the same day, the bodies of US ambassador Chris Stevens and
three other embassy employees killed in a brutal attack on the US embassy in
Benghazi Tuesday were flown home.
US President Barack Obama led a ceremony in homage to the men, vowing again to
"bring to justice those who took them from us". "We will stand fast against the
violence on our diplomatic missions," Obama said at Andrews Air Force Base
outside Washington.
The protests present U.S. President Barack Obama with a new foreign policy
crisis less than two months before seeking re-election and tests Washington's
relations with democratic governments it helped to power across the Arab world.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with
the crudely made film posted on the Internet, which she called "disgusting and
reprehensible", and the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff called a
Christian pastor in Florida to ask him to withdraw his support for it.
FRANCE 24 with wires.
Source URL:
http://www.france24.com/en/20120915-deadly-anti-us-protests-spread-muslim-world-sydney-stevens-embassies-obama
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