Muslim worshippers clash with police in East Jerusalem
Hundreds hurl rocks at Israeli police following Friday prayers; protests erupt in Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, Tunisia; 1 killed, 25 wounded in Lebanon.
Palestinians during a protest
against a film mocking Islam after the Friday prayers in front of the
Dome of the Rock at al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City,
September 14, 2012.
Photo by AFP
Hundreds of
Muslim worshippers clashed with police after Friday prayers in East
Jerusalem, as anti-U.S. protests have been spreading across the Middle
East.
The protesters took to the streets after concluding prayers in
Jerusalem's Temple Mount. They walked toward the Damascus gate and
hurled stones at police, then advanced toward the U.S. consulate.
Israeli security forces dispersed the protesters using shock grenades.
One Israeli police officer was lightly hurt after a rock was thrown at
him. Four Muslim worshippers were arrested as a result.
Bedouin in Israel's Negev also planned to hold a protest march on Friday against the anti-Islam movie that has sparked a wave of demonstrations across the Muslim world.
The demonstration, which is slated to leave from the mosques in the
city of Rahat and will end in the center of the city. The violence may
have been sparked by an anti-Muslim film, "Innocence of Muslims."
The northern branch of the Islamic Movement demonstrated against the
film on Thursday afternoon opposite the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, saying
that the U.S. government sponsors "little people" who hurt Islam and
Muslims.
Meanwhile, protesters in Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan launched violent riots in protest of an anti-Islam video.
On Wednesday, an attack was launched on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi,
Libya that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood called for a nationwide protest on
Friday. Protesters clashed with police in Cairo, who was blocking their
way to the U.S. Embassy, which was attacked earlier this week.
In Yemen,
Security forces have shot live rounds in the air and fired tear gas at a
crowd of around 2,000 protesters trying to march to the U.S. Embassy in
the capital Sanaa.
Friday's protest comes a day after hundreds of protesters chanting
"death to America" stormed the embassy compound and burned the American
flag. The embassy said nobody was harmed.
In Sudan, police fired teargas on Friday to stop some 5,000
demonstrators storming the German and British embassies to protest
against an anti-Islam film, a witness said. After hurling stones at the
two embassies, which are next to each other in Khartoum, protesters
stormed the main gates and were able to break into the German Embassy.
The protesters pulled down the embassy's emblem, raised an Islamic flag,
broke windows and started a fire in front of the main gate.
Later, Sudanese protesters also jumped over the wall into the U.S.
embassy, and there were reports of gunfire at the embassy compound.
In Lebanon, one person was killed and at least 25 wounded as hundreds
of protesters set alight a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in the
northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday, witnesses said, chanting
against the pope's visit to Lebanon and shouting anti-American slogans.
In Tunisia, a witness told Reuters that protesters jumped over the wall
of the U.S. embassy in the capital Tunis, set fire to trees and smashed
windows.
As published online at Haaretz.com, 14 September 2012
Labels: Islamism, Israel, Troublespots, United States
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, September 15, 2012
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