Protests against the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" continue for the third day near the United States embassies in various Arab and Islamic countries.
About 10,000 protesters in Bangladesh burnt American and Israeli flags on Friday and tried to march to the US embassy to demonstrate against film, chanting "Allah is the Greatest", "Smash the black hands of Jews" and "We won't tolerate insult to our great prophet".
The protesters held rowdy demonstrations outside the Baitul Mokarram Mosque, the country's largest, after the Friday prayers.
 Hundreds of police and rifle-wielding elite Rapid Action Battalion, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and water cannons followed the rally and blocked them miles from the heavily-fortified US embassy.
Palestinians also protested the anti-Islam film, with thousands gathering in the Gaza Strip and hundreds in Al-Quds where there were clashes with Israeli police.
In Gaza, thousands of people rallied at demonstrations in the City and the southern town of Rafah, in response to Hamas movement's call for citizens to protest after Friday prayers.
Protesters waved the flags of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, and set fire to American flags, chanting "Death, death to America, death, death to Israel."
Hamas Prime minister Ismail Haniya reiterated Friday that Washington should apologize for the film, produced in the United States.
"The US administration should apologize to the Arab and Islamic nation for this offensive film and bring these criminals to justice," he said, indicating that the film was the result of "a Jewish-American-Crusader alliance to ignite a war on Islam and sectarian strife, particularly in Egypt."
In Al-Quds, demonstrations were held after prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City.
The protests began peacefully with several hundred people demonstrating on the plaza that holds both the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques, chanting, "With our blood and our soul, we will sacrifice for you our Prophet."
Later, AFP reported that clashes broke out between a part of the crowd and Israeli police as the demonstration moved out of the Old City, with security forces firing tear gas and stun grenades that injured at least five people."
In the Sudanese capital, around 5,000 protesters stormed the embassies of Britain and Germany, which was torched and badly damaged, AFP reported.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters as several of them scaled the roof of the German embassy and others attacked its facade and tore down the flag to replace it with an Islamic one.
In Egypt, clashes between the security forces and demonstrators continued near the American embassy in Cairo, as protestors tossed stones at the security forces that was preventing them from reaching the embassy. For their part, the security forces responded by throwing tear bombs at the masses.
This came as protesters were still joining the crowds in the Tahrir sqaure, which was the center of protests during the 25th of January revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
for their part, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt withdrew their calls for nationwide protests on Friday in response to the film, saying they would instead participate in a "symbolic" demonstration.
"In light of the events of the last two days, the Brotherhood has decided to participate only in a symbolic protest in Tahrir Square, so that there is no more destruction to property, or injuries, or deaths, as has happened in the past," the group's Secretary General Mahmud Hussein said in a statement.
The Iranian people also took to the streets after the Friday prayers in various Iranian provinces as well as the capital Tehran.
In parallel, thousands of Iranian students gathered Thurday near the Swiss embassy which serves as the US interests section in Tehran , denouncing the American offense to the Muslims' feelings and sanctities, and warning against insulting the Quran and the Prophet of Islam.
They further demanded the punishment of the parts responsible of the film, as well as handing them to the international court. |
