US Anti-Islam Film protests spread to Europe

US Anti-Islam Film Protests Spread To Europe


As global anger mounts over a movie insulting the Prophet Mohammed, the US tells non-essential staff to leave Tunisia and Sudan.


5:40am UK, Sunday 16 September 2012

Demonstrators face French gendarmes in riot gear in Paris

Around 200 people protested in Antwerp

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Protests over a US film mocking the prophet Mohammed have erupted in Europe, while a Muslim pressure group is expected to demonstrate in London later today.

As the wave of unrest spread, non-essential US government personnel were ordered to evacuate Sudan and Tunisia following embassy attacks over the anti-Islam video.

It came after Sudan rejected a US request to send special forces to protect its Khartoum embassy.

Innocence of Muslims, which was produced in the United States and portrays Mohammed as a fraud, womaniser, homosexual and madman, has caused furious demonstrations worldwide - some of which have turned violent.
Police stand guard over protesters near the US consulate in Sydney
The US ambassador to Libya was killed in one, and demonstrators have died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.

On Saturday hundreds of people took to the streets of Antwerp, Belgium, and gathered outside the US embassy in Paris, France, in protest at the film. There were police scuffles and several arrests.

Riot police clashed on the same day with about 200 protesters at the US consulate in Sydney, Australia.

In the UK, Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group which campaigns for an Islamic state with sharia law, is due to protest outside London's American embassy on Sunday.
Pakistani Muslims torch a US flag
The Muslim pressure group, which has previously faced calls to be banned, said hundreds of Muslims from across Britain would rally and demonstrate "in solidarity" with others across the world.

A group statement said: "The demonstration will be condemning in the strongest possible terms any and all insults against Islam and the symbols of our religion; especially those against the greatest man sent to mankind the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him."

So far this weekend, Muslims have taken to the streets in more than 20 countries from the Middle East to south-east Asia, with Israel, Indonesia and the Maldives among them.
Demonstrators in Yemen
In most countries, protests were peaceful, if vehement.

But deadly clashes erupted in several places, protesters in Sudan and Tunisia tried to storm Western embassies, an American fast-food restaurant was set ablaze in Lebanon, and international peacekeepers were attacked in the Sinai.

A 14-minute excerpt from the film was described by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton as "an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with".

President Barack Obama has urged Americans not to be disheartened by images of anti-US violence, expressing confidence the ideals of freedom America stands for would ultimately prevail.

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