Muslim world vents fury over film

Fury over an anti-Islam film spread across the Muslim world, with deadly clashes near Western embassies in Tunisia and Sudan, an American fast-food restaurant set ablaze in Lebanon, and international peacekeepers attacked in the Sinai despite an appeal for calm from Egypt’s president.

At least four people – all protesters – were killed and dozens wounded in the demonstrations in more than 20 countries from the Middle East to south-east Asia. Most were peaceful but they turned violent in several nations, presenting challenges for the leaders who came to power in the Arab Spring.

Security forces worked to rein in the anti-American crowds but appeared to struggle in doing so. Police in Cairo prevented stone-throwing protesters from getting near the US embassy, firing tear gas and deploying armoured vehicles in a fourth day of clashes in the Egyptian capital. One person died there after being shot by rubber bullets.

The US State Department said embassy staff were reported to be safe in Tunisia, Sudan and Yemen – the sites of yesterday’s violent demonstrations.

President Barack Obama said Washington would “stand fast” against attacks on US embassies around the world. He spoke at a sombre ceremony paying tribute to four Americans – including US ambassador Chris Stevens – killed earlier this week when the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was stormed by militants.

The attackers may have used protests of the anti-Muslim film to stage an assault on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

An elite Marine rapid response team arrived in Yemen’s capital Saana, where local security forces shot live rounds in the air and fired tear gas at a crowd of an estimated 2,000 protesters who were kept about a block away from the US embassy, which protesters broke into the day before.

In east Jerusalem, Israeli police stopped a crowd of about 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. Four protesters were arrested.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton had tried to pre-empt the violence a day earlier by saying the rage and violence aimed at American diplomatic missions was prompted by “an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with”.

Islamist Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi went on national TV and appealed to Muslims not to attack embassies. It was his first public move to restrain protesters after days of near silence and appeared aimed at easing tensions with the United States.

But the demonstrators came out after weekly Friday prayers. Many clerics in their mosque sermons urged congregations to defend their faith, denouncing the obscure movie Innocence Of Muslims that was produced in the United States that denigrated the Prophet Mohammed.

In addition to countries where protests have occurred, US embassies around the world, including in France and Austria, issued alerts yesterday advising Americans to review their personal security measures and warning them that demonstrations may occur and may turn violent. Other embassies issuing alerts included Mauritania and India. More than 50 US embassies and consulates had released similar alerts on Thursday.

The heaviest violence came in Khartoum, Sudan, where a prominent sheikh on state radio urged protesters to march on the German embassy to protest at alleged anti-Muslim graffiti on mosques in Berlin and then to the US embassy to protest over the film.

“America has long been an enemy to Islam and to Sudan,” Sheikh Mohammed Jizouly said.

Last night, a US official said an elite Marine rapid response team was on its way to Sudan.

Soon after, several hundred Sudanese stormed the German embassy, setting part of a building aflame along with rubbish bins and a car. Protesters celebrated around the burning barrels as black smoke billowed into the sky until police firing tear gas drove them out of the compound. Some then began to demonstrate outside the neighbouring British embassy.

In his bid to head off the violence, Egypt’s Mr Morsi said “it is required by our religion to protect our guests and their homes and places of work”.

He called the killing of Mr Stevens in Libya unacceptable in Islam. “To God, attacking a person is bigger than an attack on the Kaaba,” he said, referring to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.

Mr Morsi’s speech came after Mr Obama spoke with him by phone. The Obama administration has been angered by Mr Morsi’s slow response to the attack on Tuesday night on the US embassy in Cairo and the Egyptian made little more than vague statements about it for days without an outright condemnation of the security breach, in which police did nothing to stop protesters from climbing the embassy walls.

His silence reflected the heavy pressure that Mr Morsi, a long-time figure from the Muslim Brotherhood, faces from Egypt’s powerful ultra-conservative Islamists. They are using the film issue to boost their own political prominence while challenging Mr Morsi’s religious credentials.

Leaders of Egypt’s Jihad group, a former militant organisation, held a conference in Alexandria and said anyone involved in “defamation” of the prophet should be killed. They called on Mr Morsi to cut relations with the US.