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Arab world roils with anti-U.S. demonstrations

Film mocking Islam blamed for violence in Middle East, Africa

U.S. embassies in Yemen and Egypt have been attacked by angry mobs, stemming from a film posted online that mocked Islam. American warships have headed to Libya following the death of a U.S. ambassador who was killed after protestors stormed the embassy there.
 

In Yemen, hundreds of protestors broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in Sanaa.

In Yemen, hundreds of protestors broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in Sanaa.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In Yemen, hundreds of protestors broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in Sanaa. Shouting the slogan "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Messenger of God," they smashed windows of security offices and burned cars.

At least 15 people were reportedly wounded, some by gunfire, before the Yemeni government ringed the area with troops.

In Egypt, people threw stones at a police cordon around the U.S. embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy compound and tearing down the American flag. Thirteen people were hurt in violence following initial protests earlier this week.

In Benghazi, Libya, Islamists staged military-style assaults on the mission and a safe house refuge on the 11th anniversary of al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

The U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the attacks in Benghazi. Eight Libyans were injured.

President Barack Obama vowed to "bring to justice" those responsible for the attack, which U.S. officials said may have been planned in advance. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government had nothing to do with the video, entitled "The Innocence of Muslims," which she called "disgusting and reprehensible."

The U.S. military moved two destroyers towards the Libyan coast, in what an official said was a move to give the administration flexibility for any future action against Libyan targets.

A Marine Corps anti-terrorist team has been deployed to boost security in Libya, whose leader Muammar Khadafi was ousted in a U.S.-backed uprising last year.

There is trouble elsewhere, as President Obama revealed that the U.S. consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated after an employee fell ill on opening a suspicious envelope.

Bangladeshi Islamists tried to march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka and Iranian students protested in Tehran outside the Swiss embassy. There were also protests at U.S. missions in Tunisia, Sudan and Morocco.

Clips of the film "Innocence of Muslims," had been circulating on the Internet for weeks before the protests erupted.

The film is an amateurish production portraying Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser. Any representation of the Prophet is typically considered blasphemous among Islamists.

Clinton said Washington rejected the film's message absolutely. "It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and provoke rage," she said.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention:
The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Protests, The Innocence of Muslims, Iran, Yemen, Libya

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

  1. MJGT
    8 months ago

    Hillary Clinton's response to the attacks and murders at our embassies was pathetic. Liberals like Obama use our troops and our intelligence personnel then betray them.

  2. Emma
    8 months ago

    Time to stop aiding and abetting the enemy!!! STOP giving them billions of dollars that can be better spent at home. STOP training them in our military tactics and providing them with weapons!! Bring our soldiers and sailors home and STARVE THE BEAST!!! Our government supplies them with weapons and training. Why is that NOT treason????????????? With some good old American ingenuity and sweat we don't need their oil. Put manufacturing plants into operation here, much like the generations did during WWII to produce what we need to power our country, secure our borders and take care of our own people. We are *still* the world's bread basket. Foreign aid under these circumstances is a subversive action by our own government.

  3. Rose
    8 months ago

    I love Clinton's comment about a movie "denigrating a great religion" considering the Obama administrations treatment of Catholic values. I would like to know what she thinks about putting a Crucifix in a jar of urine and calling it "art" and "free speech." Yep, no denigrating of a great religion there.

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