Protesters in Afghanistan and Indonesia burned US flags and chanted: “Death to America” yesterday in renewed demonstrations over a film mocking the Prophet Mohammed that has unleashed a wave of anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim and Arab world.
Indonesian police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who massed outside the US embassy in Jakarta, capital of the most populous Muslim nation.
In Kabul, thousands of protesters took to the streets, setting fire to cars and shops and throwing stones at police.
“We will defend our Prophet until we have blood across our bodies. We will not let anyone insult him,” one protester in the Afghan capital said. “Americans will pay for their dishonor.”
The demonstrations were the latest across the world provoked by a short film made with private funds in the US that depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a fool and womanizer.
In a torrent of violence last week, the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi and US and other foreign embassies were stormed in several cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by enraged Muslims. At least nine other people have been killed.
The US has sent ships, extra troops and special forces to protect its interests and citizens in the Middle East, while a number of its embassies have evacuated staff and are on high alert for trouble.
The situation poses an unexpected foreign policy headache for US President Barack Obama as he campaigns for re-election in November, even though his administration has condemned the film as reprehensible and disgusting.
Despite efforts early in his tenure to improve relations with the Arab and Muslim world, he faces a number of problems, including the continued US military involvement in Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear program, the Syrian civil war and the fall-out from the Arab Spring revolts.
The renewed protests yesterday dashed any hopes that the furor over the film might fade, despite an appeal from the senior cleric in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines, for calm over the weekend.
In the Kabul demonstration, protesters shouted: “Death to America” and burned the flags of the US and of Israel, a country reviled by many Muslims and Arabs because of the Palestinian issue.
Police Lieutenant-General Fahem Qayem put the number of demonstrators at between 3,000 and 4,000, but said police had the situation under control.
Embassies in central Kabul, including the US and British missions, were placed on lockdown and violence flared near fortified housing compounds for foreign workers.
Rallies also took place in London, Australia, Turkey and Pakistan on Sunday, showing the global scale of the outrage.
Iran said it would hunt for those responsible for making the film.
“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns this inappropriate and offensive action,” Iranian First Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi said. “Certainly it will search for, track and pursue this guilty person who has insulted 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.”
Iranian officials have demanded that the US apologize to Muslims for the film.
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