The spreading violence comes as outrage grows over an obscure movie made in the United States called “Innocence of Muslims” that mocked Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Anti-American rage that began this week over a video insult to Islam spread to nearly 20 countries across the Middle East and beyond on Friday, with violent and sometimes deadly protests that convulsed the birthplaces of the Arab Spring revolutions, breached two more United States Embassies and targeted diplomatic properties of Germany and Britain.
World Wide Outrage
Worldwide Muslim anger over a film mocking Islam’s prophet continued to spread Thursday, prompting President Barack Obama to issue a warning to countries where Americans may be in danger.
President Obama, speaking at a re-election campaign rally in Golden, Colorado, said his administration had been in contact with other governments “to let them know they’ve got a responsibility to protect our citizens.”
The president also said on Thursday: “I’ve directed my administration to do whatever is necessary to protect all Americans serving abroad”.
American diplomatic offices everywhere have seen their security beefed up, and there are contracted aircraft being kept on the runways in major cities so that they can ferry out evacuated personnel.
The spreading violence comes as outrage grows over an obscure movie made in the United States called “Innocence of Muslims” that mocked Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Egypt
The first of the protests against the film began in Cairo, Egypt, outside of the U.S. Embassy there, on Tuesday. Protesters rushed embassy grounds,
taking down and tearing up the American flag flying at half-mast in commemoration of 9/11 before security forces turned them away.
The protests in Egypt continued Thursday, with protesters clashing with police near the U.S. mission. Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi condemned the attack on Libya that killed the American ambassador and vowed Thursday to protect foreign embassies in Cairo, where police were using tear gas to disperse protesters at the U.S. mission.
Libya
In Libya on Tuesday, four diplomatic personnel, including the ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, were killed in what appears to have been a coordinated attack that took advantage of a protest against the film in Benghazi, once the seat of the Libyan revolution. FBI agents are on the ground there investigating whether there were al Qaeda links to the attack, and American security forces have engaged in what appears to be a terrorist manhunt.
Yemen
By Thursday, other Muslim countries had taken up protests against the film, including in Yemen, where anti-U.S. protesters and Yemeni police clashed at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa. CBS News sources say a large group of protesters reached the walled compound, but failed to breach any of the buildings inside the compound as police fired warning shots to try to disperse the crowd.
Tunisia
Violent protests outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Tunis, were met with tear gas and gunshots, leaving two people dead, 29 others injured
and plumes of black smoke wafting over the city.
Several dozen protesters briefly stormed the embassy compound, tearing down the American flag and raising a banner bearing the Muslim profession of faith. They also set fire to an American school adjacent to the embassy compound and prevented firefighters from approaching it.
The American School in Tunis was badly damaged and is now “unusable,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. All embassy personnel are safe and accounted for.
Protesters who breached the walls at the embassy in Tunis did damage to the exterior — walls, broken windows and cars in the parking lot, the State Department said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the Tunisian prime minister Friday to make sure that security efforts were being properly coordinated.
Lebanon
Security forces opened fire in the northeastern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing one person after a crowd angry over the film set fire to a KFC and a Hardee’s restaurant. About 25 people were wounded in the melee, including 18 policemen who were hit with stones and glass.
Sudan
Several hundred protesters stormed the German Embassy in the capital, Khartoum, burning a car parked behind its gates and trash cans before police firing tear gas drove them out.
Two or three protesters managed to climb the embassy wall but were repelled by Sudanese security forces. Vice President Joe Biden called Sudanese Vice President Taha to discuss the situation. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides also spoke with Sudanese officials to ensure that security was stepped up. All embassy personnel are safe and accounted for.
India
Thousands protested in the volatile Indian-controlled region of Kashmir, burning U.S. flags and calling President Barack Obama a “terrorist.” The top government cleric reportedly demanded Americans leave immediately.
In the southern city of Chennai, protesters threw stones at the U.S. Consulate, shattering some windows and burning an effigy of Obama. Police quickly cleared the area, arresting more than 100 protesters.
Bahrain
More than 2,000 protesters chanted against the film and burned American and Israeli flags after Friday prayers in Diraz, outside the capital, Manama. Security forces were absent. Separately,Bahrain’s Interior Ministry ordered media regulators to attempt to block access to the film clip.
Afghanistan
About 1,500 protested outside the eastern city of Jalalabad, shouting “Death to America” and urging President Hamid Karzai to sever relations with the U.S.
