Protests spread against US over anti-Islamic film - as it happened (2024)

We're going to wrap up our live blog coverage for the day. Here's a summary of the latest developments:

Protest activity smoldered in Cairo, Tunisia, Lebanon and elsewhere after a day of upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa.Relatively small but intense protests outside US embassies across the region resulted in multiple fatalities in Tunis and at least one each in Lebanon and Cairo.

Gunmen staged a raid on a peacekeepers' outpost in Sinai, with three foreign soldiers, believed to be Colombian, reportedly injured. The raid was described as major, with dozens of fighters and vehicles, and was not of a kind with the protests outside US diplomatic outposts.

The bodies of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, were repatriated in a ceremony attended by top American officials. President Obama said the deaths would not change the US resolve to fill its role as world leader.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney ratcheted up his attack on the president's foreign policy, deploying surrogates to tie the violence around the world to what he said were the president's show of weakness and failed policies in the Middle East.

The White House asked that YouTube remove the incendiary video linked to the embassy violence. YouTube did not immediately comply. Copies of the video have been widely disseminated online.

After 18 months of bloodshed in Syria, on a day in which the local coordinating committees reported 108 had been killed in violence, frustration grew at a perceived misplacement of outrage.

From the Blue Cloud Film Ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif.,to a world capital near you: here's another look at that map of protests tied to "Innocence of Muslims." The blue pins mark where news reports describing protest activity were filed.

On the interactive map you can read the reports at each pinpoint.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to reaffirm the countries' "strategic partnership," the Associated Press reports:

Pentagon press secretary George Little says Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also underscored the importance of ensuring the security of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Egypt.

Little says Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reassured Panetta that Egypt remains committed to the defense relationship, one of the most important for the U.S. in the Middle East. Little says the Egyptian defense minister also reiterated his country's commitment to the security of American diplomatic personnel and property.

The U.S. does not have a defense treaty with Egypt.

(h/t: @DaliaEzzat_)

That's the take of widely followed Egyptian journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy in a blog post embedding the video below, uploaded today by MoubasherYoum7 (LiveDaily7).

There is a tennis-like quality to the action, in which protesters retrieve gas canisters and lob them back over a barrier, to appreciative cheers and applause.

Al-Jazeera's Rawya Rageh:

Tunisian officials have revised the death toll in clashes outside the US embassy in Tunis down to two, not three, as previous reports we linked to said.

Eileen Byrne is in Tunis:

Tunsia's state Wataniya television channel is reporting two people killed and 29 wounded in the demonstration.

Health minister Abdeltif Mekki, in an interview with Tunisia's Radio Shems station available via its website, referred to two people who died from gunshots during the demonstration. In answer to the interviewer's question about whether the lethal bullets were fired by the Tunisian police or by American security units possibly deployed on the roof of the embassy, Mekki said the source of the bullets had not yet been established.

"Intervention units" of the police armed with equipment to fire tear gas were at the forefront of the operation to defend the embassy. Members of these units stood by outside El Aouina police station as more than one dozen handcuffed young men were crammed into a small police van Friday evening. Those arrested in the disorder were being sent for processing at the Criminal Brigade headquarters in Montfleury, Tunis, according to the senior station officer who spoke under condition of anonymity.

Another police officer armed with a small arm admitted grudgingly that he had fired bullets in the air to disperse demonstrators. "We don't have the right equipment," he said, declining to give his name.

The ceremony at Andrews ends with the four flag-draped coffins being loaded into hearses and the vehicles leaving the site.

President Obama acknowledged the spectacular surge around the world in anti-American violence on the week of the Sept. 11 anniversary. He said the US role in the world would not change in the face of violent opposition.

Despite – or because of – the somberness of the occasion, the president was faced with the challenge to his leadership the wave of violence represents. Unlike Secretary Clinton, he did not mention the video at the heart of the protests. He conceded that "with so much anger and violence, even the most hopeful among us must wonder." He said US resolve was unwavering, attackers would be brought to justice and the United States would continue to be a "friend" to people seeking freedom.

Clinton had a more forceful line:"The people of Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob."

The president begins speaking with a line from scripture: "Greater love hath no man than this. The man who would lay down his life for his friends."

The president pays tribute to each of the deceased.

Glen Doherty, he says, lay down his life protecting his friends. Tyrone Woods was a "consummate, quiet professional" who lay down his life protecting his friends. Sean Smith "knew the perils of this calling from his time in Baghdad... And he lay down his life in service to us all."

"Chris Stevens was everything America could want in an ambassador," the president says, "as the whole country has come to see."

"He arrived in Libya on that cargo ship... How he believed in Libya and its people, and how they loved him back. There in Benghazi, he lay down his life for his friends, Libyan and American."

Then the president turns to the turmoil visible around the world. The images, he says, have caused some to question the US role abroad.

"There is no doubt these are difficult days," he says. "In moments such as this, with so much anger and violence, even the most hopeful among us must wonder. But with all these images this week... I think of the man ...in Benghazi, with a message in English he wanted us all to hear: 'Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans.'"

"America is a friend,"the president says. "The United States will never retreat from the world."

He says that the people who killed the four Americans would be brought to justice.

He concludes by again quoting the line from scripture.

"God bless the memory of these men who lay down their lives for us all."

The president finishes speaking.

"It has been a difficult week for the State Department," Clinton says. She again condemns the video, "which we had NOTHing to do with," emphasis hers.

"The people of Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob," she says. Clinton calls on "reasonable people" in every country to do everything they can to destroy security.

Clinton says the US must continue to lead the world. She pays tribute to all state department staff. She introduces the president.

Secretary Clinton is speaking at a ceremony for the return of the bodies of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed in Libya.

The vice president, defense secretary and UN ambassador are at the ceremony.

"To the families of our fallen colleagues, I offer our most heartfelt condolences and deepest gratitude," Clinton says.

She eulogizes Smith, saying he was a respected expert in communications around the world.

"Sean leaves behind a loving wife... two young children... and scores of grieving friends and colleagues. And that's just this world, because online, he's being mourned... by countless gamers."

"Tyrone Woods, known to most as 'Rone," was a former Seal who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He worked security for the state department from Central America to the Middle East. Woods is survived by his wife and three sons, including a youngest son born three months ago.

Glen "Bub" Doherty was also a former Seal and paramedic. He worked in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, "always putting his life on the line to safeguard other Americans," Clinton says.

Of Amb. Stevens, Clinton says she "was honored to know him." "During the revolution in Libya he risked his life ... and gave his life to help [Libyans] build a better country," she says. "He was known not only for his courage, but for his smile, goofy and contagious. He was known for his sense of fun and California cool."

A transfer of remains ceremony is under way at Andrews AFB for the four Americans killed in Libya.

President Obama and Secretary Clinton are to speak. A CNN live stream is here.

Al-Jazeera English rounds up social media reaction among Syrians that worldwide protests would attend the release of an anti-Islamic video but not the country's bloodshed.

Alexandria native @suzeeinthecity tweet-narrates an unlikely run-in between protesters and a wedding party.

(h/t @liamstack, whose feed notes that "actually Alex has no official US consulate, clashes are centred around the old consulate.")

Dozens of gunmen have reportedly attacked a base of the MFO (Multinational Force and Observers) stationed on the Sinai peninsula, with possible fatalities in the attack.

The Times of Israel reports:

Dozens of gunmen, in some 50 vehicles, surrounded the base and then 60-70 of them burst in, storming into the base amid heavy gunfire. Exchanges of fire were continuing into the night, the report said.

First reports of the attack surfaced a little after 8 p.m. local time. Half-an-hour later, [Israel] Channel 2 reported that Egyptian troops had arrived at the base, to try to help to restore order.

The TV report cited conflicting accounts of casualties. One source indicated that three people had been killed. Another said there were no fatalities, but that three Colombian members of the force had been injured.

The attack took place at the MFO’s main North Camp — the MFO’s largest installation and the site of the contingent’s headquarters — 40 kilometers south of El-Arish.

The White House has asked YouTube to remove the video tied to worldwide violence outside US embassies, the Washington Post confirms.

YouTube had earlier blocked the video in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere. However the site said the video did not violate its ban on hate speech.

Now the Obama administration has “reached out to YouTube to call the video to their attention and ask them to review whether it violates their terms of use," spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

The president, the secretary of state and other top officals have condemned the video but said it is protected under the right to free speech.

"We do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they may be," Secretary Clinton said yesterday.

As rageful international protests continue to play out over the production of an anti-Islamic web video, the Mitt Romney campaign has stepped up its criticism of President Obama's foreign policy.

In addition to vice presidential Paul Ryan's remarks this morning that the administration's policy lacked "moral clarity," a senior Romney adviser asserts that if Romney were president the scenes of chaos from Sudan to Tunis to Cairo would not be playing out.

“There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation,” Richard Williamson, a former ambassador to Sudan under George W. Bush, told CNN. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.”

As he expanded on the point, Williamson confused the Baltics and Balkans and accused the administration of not following up on intelligence on the anniversary of Sept. 11:

We should have learned the lessons of the Baltics, of Timor Leste, of Sierra Leone, and that is we go in to help during reconciliation and reconstruction. The administration chose not to do that. ..Second, 9/11 is 9/11. It's not a surprise that this is a day where bad things might happen and it's disturbing to get some reports of intelligence that may have not been followed up.

Three protesters have been killed in clashes outside the US embassy in Tunis, according to various reports.

The protesters included radical Salafist activists, but also large numbers of ordinary Tunisians, especially from lower-income neighbourhoods not far from the embassy,Eileen Byrne reports from Tunis:

One high school student from the Carthage suburb of Tunis said she had come in response to a Facebook campaign in which young organizers of the demonstration had urged non-violent protest. Across from the embassy, family men in the Hay Tayeb Mhiri neighbourhood watched with some disapproval as teenage looters carried musical instruments and toys out of the American secondary school, but none of them disapproved of the demonstration against the film.

It was a necessary message to the "Christian world" that the prophet should not be insulted, they say. Late in the afternoon riot police firing tear gas, backed by an army armoured car, drove protestors and onlookers from a motorway bridge near the embassy compound. The mainly young protesters -- one of them clutching a silver trophy looted from the school --scattered through the alleys of the Hay Salama El Aouina neighbourhood.

Demonstrators in Khartoum, Sudan, overwhelm riot police and break into and set fire to the German embassy.

Police in Jos, Nigeria have fired warning shots at a gathering of thousands of youths, despite demonstrators' insistence that their gathering was peaceful.Monica Mark reports from Lagos, Nigeria:

A handful of protests across Muslim-dominated northern and central Nigeria continued into Friday as the government ordered 24-hour security in all embassies in the capital, Abuja.

Africa’s most populous Muslim country has been wracked by attacks from radical Islamist insurgency Boko Haram. Residents in the capital said the city remained calm, but that security had been visibly tightened with increased roadblocks and patrols.

In the central state of Plateau, which has a fraught history of sectarian clashes, protests began on Wednesday. Around 2,000 youths, mostly members of a neighbourhood Muslim organisation, gathered outside the city’s Central Mosque after Friday prayers.

“No sooner had the youths gathered than police were deployed. They started shooting in the air and told everybody to scatter,” said a marcher, Mohammed Sittu. “People said it was a peaceful demonstration but the as usual the military doesn’t believe anybody has the right to demonstrate,” he added.

Street hawker John Alechenu said the streets were eerily empty after the marchers fled.“They were mostly underaged, they are the hot-headed ones who are notorious for causing trouble at any opportunity,” he added.

In Sokoto, which is home to Nigeria’s most senior Muslim leader, peaceful protests were also held on Friday.

Police spokesperson Frank Mba said extra troops were on standby in potential security hotspots. “We want to ensure we nip all potential crisis in the bud,” Mba said.

Islamist militant Boko Haram are believed to have ties with Al-Qaeda’s northern African and Yemeni offshoots. The organisation struck the United Nations in the capital, Abuja, last year.

@kikhote in Cairo has been tweeting images and video from Tahrir Square today, including this video reportedly from about an hour ago:

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi reiterated his condemnation of the anti-Islam film tied to the embassy violence, Egypt's Ahram Online reports:

"This assault on Islam has been condemned by all the nations of the world, including the American people, as was conveyed to me by [US President Barack] Obama during our phone conversation," Morsi said.

The Egyptian president went on to stress his rejection of any attempt to promote strife between nations, warning that such "childish" actions "only serve to distract us from real problems, such as ongoing events in Syria."

Morsi spoke at an appearance in Rome, a first stop on a brief European tour that will also take him to Belgium.

Eileen Byrne reports from Tunis, where an American school was burned and police have moved into the US embassy compound:

At the back of the Tunis embassy compound, flames and black smoke have billowed for more than two hours near an outbuilding, leaving the outbuilding blackened with smoke. Ranks ofTunisian riot police inside the embassy compound, visible through its railings, appeared to have kept demonstrators away from the main embassy building with tear gas.

There were some small explosions, apparently as protestors threw petrol bombs across the wall. Some demonstrators scaled the compound wall, others sat along the wall until dispersed by multiple volleys of tear gas fired by riot police from inside as a lone army or police helicopter circled the scene. Salafist demonstrators fixed two of their black flags with silver inscriptions on the embassy railings.

On the other side of the motorway that runs along the back of the compound, anAmerican secondary school attended mainly by children of expats was torched and equipment such as computer screens and printers looted.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are scheduled to deliver brief remarks this afternoon at Andrews Air Force Base for the homecoming of the bodies of the four Americans killed in Benghazi: Ambassador Christopher Stevens, technician Sean Smith and former Navy Seals Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty.

A Transfer of Remains ceremony is planned for 2pm ET.

There have been numerous protests today against the anti-Muslim film – most of them in the Middle East but also stretching as far as Malaysia. The most serious incidents so far today appear to have been in Sudan, Tunisia and Lebanon.

Sudan

Protesters in Khartoum attacked the German embassy and set part of it on fire. The British embassy next door was also a target for demonstrators.

Protesters also tried to storm the US embassy and witnesses say Sudanese police opened fire on them. Three protesters are said to have been injured (or possibly killed). A Guardian reader in Khartoum reports one person killed during a chase by a riot police truck.

There are allegations that the Sudanese government has been providing transport for protesters.

Tunisia

Protesters entered the compound of the US embassy in Tunis and started fires. There have been reports of gunfire and teargas.

In the latest development, the American school in Tunis – which was closed today – has reportedly been set on fire.

Lebanon

One demonstrator was reported killed and two others wounded in clashes with security forces in the Lebanese city of Tripoli today. A security source said the man was killed as protesters tried to storm a government building.

Earlier a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken was set alight. Twelve members of the security forces were wounded by stones thrown by protesters, the source said.

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan launched a sharp new attack on President Obama's foreign policy on Friday morning, saying the president had failed to provide "moral clarity" and implying that violence outside US embassies this week was one result.

"Amid all these threats and dangers, what we do not see is steady, consistent American leadership," Ryan told delegates at the Value Voters Summit, a gathering of conservative activists in Washington. "In the days ahead, and in the years ahead, American foreign policy needs moral clarity and firmness of purpose. Only by the confident exercise of American influence are evil and violence overcome. That is how we keep problems abroad from becoming crises. That is what keeps the peace."

Ryan picked up on a criticism advanced by the Mitt Romney campaign of the president's not planning to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahuwhen the foreign leader attends the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month.The White House has said no meeting will take place because Obama will not be in New York.

Listing what he said were foreign policy failures, Ryan included "Israel, our best ally in the region, treated with indifference bordering on contempt by the Obama administration."

From Morocco to Malaysia ... here's a map showing the location of protests, with notes about each of them.

The fire appears to be in the embassy compound rather than the embassy building itself. Meanwhile, Reuters says the American school in Tunis has been set on fire.

Al-Jazeera has broadcast footage purporting to show fires outside the German embassy in Khartoum.

Another email from Richard Woods in Khartoum who says a civilian has reportedly been killed. He received the following text message:

One civilian killed during chase by riot police truck near US embassy, the protests became aggressive, violence expected. Avoid the area.

A photo posted on Twitter by nsaeed shows smoke rising from the direction of the German and British embassies in Khartoum.

Protesters set fire to trees, and broke windows inside the US embassy compound in Tunis, according to Reuters citing a witness.

The Guardian's Eileen Byrne reports seeing dark smoke from the direction of the embassy compound, but she cautioned that the smoke may be from nearby buildings.

There has been regular rounds of teargas fire from the security forces, she added in an email update.

The teargas makes it difficult to get close to the embassy, she said.

Sana, Syria's state news agency, said hundreds of pro-government supporters protested outside the US embassy in Damascus today.

Protesters held images of beleaguered president Bashar al-Assad and what appeared to be government-organised demonstration.

This was the scene in Cairo's Tahrir Square a few moments ago. The numbers involved are relatively small.

Richard Woods ("richardw" in the discussion thread below) has emailed us from Khartoum. He writes that transportation appears to have been provided for demonstrators:

This is quite worrying. It appears that after prayers buses and trucks were on hand to transport people to the areas I have already identified.

We have just had afternoon prayers and again you can see people being picked up by trucks and buses around the mosques. They may be going home, of course, and the streets are as quiet as ever on a typical Friday, save a few sirens. However that kind of organisation is not what I am used to here so I remain concerned.

I think we will know better after evening prayers.

Apparently you could see the smoke from the German embassy earlier, as we are quite close to it, but thankfully that seems to have died down.

Sorry this is somewhat disjointed – I am mainly reporting on what I have been told – I have no intention of going out and finding for myself!

Update: This tweet makes a similar point about the transportation of protesters:

One demonstrator was killed and two others wounded in clashes with security forces in the Lebanese city of Tripoli today in protests over the anti-Muslim film and against the pope's visit to Lebanon, Reuters reports.

A security source said the man was killed as protesters tried to storm a government building.

Earlier a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken was set alight. Twelve members of the security forces were wounded by stones thrown by protesters, the source said.

Our colleague Mona Mahmood has been talking on the phone with Dagher al-Mousawi of the Jihad and Construction movement in Basra, about today's demonstration. This is what he told her:

More than 3,000 people took part in a protest today at 9am. The protest aimed at showing the anger of people in Basra towards the anti-Prophet film. Most of the religious parties, Sunni and Shia, tribal leaders and independents, marched from the centre of Basra towards the governor's building.

The protesters had a single demand: the US administration should not allow such films against the Prophet under the pretext of freedom of speech.

Such acts will provoke billions of Muslims all over the world and you cannot tell what will be their reaction, it is a pity that there are people in the west who do not stop directing insults to the Prophet – once by cartoons or burning the holy Qur'an and now by this despicable film.

People are so angry but we do not accept the attack against the US embassy in Libya and the killing of the ambassador.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that a demonstration is taking place outside the British embassy in Khartoum, and that Sudanese police are at the scene, the BBC reports.

The spokesperson could not confirm whether protesters had entered the embassy. The German embassy, which is next door, has come under a heavier attack (see earlier post).

Posting from Khartoum in the discussion thread below, richardw says:

There are a few protesters out and about here in Khartoum. We have been advised to stay indoors but nothing too serious as I understand

They are apparently in the Souk Arabi area which is about 10 minutes from the UK / German embassies, which are next door to one another. I don't know how many have gathered though because I am staying indoors. The embassy had warned us not to go out yesterday.

Yesterday a newspaper demanded protests after prayers and there were expected to be some inflammatory words spoken in the mosques.

There are now some protesters around Mek Nimir Street (or were 15 minutes or so ago) which is also around the UK / German embassy area.

A branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken has been set on fire in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Pictures here.

And someone has started a #ChickenWingJihad hashtag on Twitter

The German embassy in Khartoum is being attacked, according to numerous reports.

And what has Germany done to deserve this? The general view seems to be that its embassy (which is next door to the British one) is easier to reach than the US embassy.

Hundreds of protesters attempted to march towards the US embassy in Islamabad on Friday afternoon but were stopped by police well before they reached the Pakistani capital’s diplomatic quarter, writes Jon Boone.

The group of around 250 were protesting against the anti-Islam film that has triggered violence in the Middle East.

Despite fears that Pakistan could be roiled by similar outbreaks of public fury, Friday prayers passed off without any reports of serious disturbances.

The US embassy in Islamabad is a fortified compound which sits inside a fenced off diplomatic enclave where most foreign missions are located, making it almost impossible for crowds of protesters to approach.

Earlier around 400 activists from religious parties had gathered in the Pakistani capital for a peaceful demonstration.

Protesters carried banners with anti-American slogans, attacking the film and listened to fiery speakers from leading figures.

Some called for complaints to be lodged with the US ambassador to Pakistan in order to highlight the depth of public anger.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a leader of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam party, said the West was “taking revenge for its defeat in Afghanistan by spreading religious hatred”.

He also warned against any changes to the country’s controversial blasphemy laws. The laws are currently under scrutiny following accusations that a young Christian girl was falsely accused of burning a Qur’an by a mullah from her neighbourhood.

Here's a summary of events so far today:

Protests

Anti-US protests, sparked by a controversial film which insulted Islam, have spread to more countries. Protests have been reported today in Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Qatar, Kashmir, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Libya

The authorities say they have four made arrests in the investigation into the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that left US ambassador Chris Stevens and three state department staff dead. Residents in Benghazi are sceptical of Tripoli's commitment to tackle extremists behind the attack.

Airspace over Benghazi was closed for ten hours as FBI investigators and US marines were due to arrive. The city's airport was closed for security reasons, an official said.

Ansar al-Sharia, the militant group widely believed to be behind the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi,is to be disbanded, according to the Libya Herald. The group has denied responsibility for the attack.

Yemen

Police fired teargas, water cannon and shots into the air to stop protesters reaching the US Embassy. On Thursday four people were killed and dozens of protesters and guards injured after protesters stormed the embassy compound.

Egypt

The Muslim Brotherhood said it cancelled planned protests over the film after urging its supporters to take to part in peaceful protests. The call came too late to prevent anti-US demonstrations in Tahrir Square.

Protests are reported today in Indonesia, Iraq and Iran – though most of them seem to be small.

Indonesia: About 200 people held a largely peaceful protest outside the heavily guarded US embassy in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. AP says they waved black flags and held signs that read: "America has to be responsible for Islamophobia worldwide."

Iraq: "Hundreds" of supporters of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council demonstrated in Baghdad, according to the Iraqi News website. A similar protest was reported in the southern city of Basra.

Iran: Fars News reports further protests in Tehran today, following the demonstration yesterday outside the Swiss embassy (which represents US interests in Iran). EA Worldview adds that Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, denounced the anti-Muslim film during Friday prayers.

Sudan: Reuters cites a witness saying that police have fired teargas to disperse protesters trying to storm the German and British embassies in Khartoum.

Bahrain: The interior ministry has called upon citizens and residents "to not contribute in the spreading of the film by circulating it through social medial". Children should be protected from the film too, it says.

Imams across Afghanistan condemned the anti-Islamic film during Friday prayers, but many also warned against violence, writes Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul.

The country remained calm, with just one large but peaceful demonstration reported in eastern Jalalabad city.

The hour after prayers, when worshippers fired up by sermons mass outside mosques, can be a volatile time; some of the deadliest rioting in recent years has kicked off in that small window.

In Kabul preachers told their congregations that Muslims had a duty to protest against the film, but should do it peacefully.

In Jalalabad, a hotbed for radicalism and one of the most frequent scenes of protest, hundreds of people took to the streets but avoided violence, said Ahmad Zia Ahmadzai, spokesman for the provincial governor. They burned an effigy of Obama and a US flag, Afghan media reported.

The Yemeni police opened fire to stop protesters reaching US embassy, according to Yemen's spokesman in Washington.

Journalist Erin Cunningham is tweeting about a protest in the Jordanian capital, Amman, but the security forces seem fully prepared.

The protesters now seem to have changed their minds about heading for the embassy.

... which is probably a sensible move ...

Anti-US protests over the film have spread to Qatar, according to various reports. Al-Jazeera's Omar Chatriwala tweets:

Update: Citizen journalist Mostafa Sheshtawy says the protest is now over. Earlier he tweeted.

The Muslim Brotherhood has announced that it cancelled planned protests over the anti-Islamic film, after backing the rally.

But its move appears to have come too late to prevent protesters gathering in the city to vent their anger at the film and the US.

Al-Jazeera's Adam Makary uploaded this photo of protesters scrabbling to burn a US flag.

Ansar al-Sharia, the militant group widely believed to be behind the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, is to be disbanded, "by force if necessary", the Libya Herald reports citing "a reliable source close to prime minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur.

“We are negotiating to dismantle it,” the source said. “We don’t want bloodshed but if they do not agree we will have to use force.”

This morning, the group’s Benghazi headquarters are closed and there is no visible sign of activity.

The army had previously put out its own statement saying the group was to be disbanded, but this was subsequently removed. The announcement had been posted on the army’s Facebook page, and it is suspected the move was deemed premature given no official word has been given from the government on the matter.

On Wednesday, Hani al-Mansouri, the official spokemsan for Ansar al-Sharia told the Guardian suggestions that his organisation was involved in the attack were "untrue and baseless".

In a telephone interview with our colleague Mona Mahmood, he said:

There are other Islamic movements like Sufis, [Muslim] Brothers and Tabligh – they all work in Libya. A few days ago a shrine was attacked and automatically Ansar al-Sharia was accused though we do not have any connection with that.

Libyan people are upset at the abuse of the prophet [in the film] and they went down to the street to express their anger. All the protest happened spontaneously – no one organised it. We as Ansar al-Sharia brigade did not take part in the protest [at the consulate] because we did not get any order from our commander to do so, though we do not approve any harm directed to the prophet or Islam. Freedom of speech should be restricted by Sharia'a principles, but we do not approve the attack against the US embassy.

This is not the first time, Libyan people express their anger against such things. In 2006, Libyan people protested in thousands before the Italian consulate against the Danish cartoonists' drawings attacking the prophet. They were suppressed violently by Gaddafi's forces. Many of them were killed and [others] ended in jail.

The Libyan people always get affected by what happens in Egypt and I think after they learned and watched the Egyptian people protest in Cairo against the film, they decided to do the same.

The video below (in Arabic) shows Ansar spokesman Hani al-Mansouri giving a press conference yesterday.

Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned both the anti-Islamic film and the violent protests that it sparked.

The Turkish daily Hurriyet quoted him saying:

Those who made this movie should be condemned in the harshest terms. But insulting religion cannot be an excuse to attack people.

AP said he exhorted Muslims to condemn the attack on the US consulate in Libya.

A cement wall was erected overnight on the street leading to the US embassy in a bid to end continuing clashes in Cairo, Sarah Sirgany writes from the city.

Further protests against a film deemed offensive to Islam are expected today. Demonstrations started on Tuesday and turned into violent clashes with security as the numbers dwindled on Wednesday night.

The Muslim Brotherhood said it will only demonstrate outside mosques with no marches to Tahrir Square. In a statement of Friday, it said it will be present in Tahrir, but with minimal participation, in a bid to prevent the escalation of the kind of clashes that have occurred in the city over the last year.

Bigger clashes in November, December and February lasted for days. Unlike the current violence, there were several fatalities each time. Walls were built in different streets in downtown Cairo following the violently confrontations. Most were torn down months later.

Wesam Abdel-Wareth, who organized Tuesday’s protest, said that he’s not participating on Friday. He leads El-Hikma Coalition, which includes the Salafi Al-Nour party and the Salafi Calling group.

“Our demands have been met,” he said. These include statements by the Coptic Church distancing itself from the film, an apology by the US embassy in Cairo, cancelling the alleged screening of the film, and taking legal action against the film makers.

Abdel-Wareth said he understands that the US administration is not responsible for the film and praised secretary of state Hillary Clinton for condemning it.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed "evil Zionists" and the US for the anti-Islamic film. In remarks published by the semi-official Fars news agency he also likened the film to the controversies over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses; Danish cartoons of the Prophet and Qur'an burning in the US.

It quoted Khamenei saying:

Behind this evil move lie the antagonistic policies of the Zionists and the US and other heads of the global arrogance, who in their vain delusions want to knock down the Islamic sanctities from their lofty position in the eyes of the young generations in the world of Islam and to extinguish their religious sentiments ...

The number one suspects in this crime are Zionism and the US. If the American politicians are honest that they had no role, then they must punish those who committed this heinous crime and their financial backers, who have wrenched the hearts of Muslim nations, in proportion to this great crime.

The crisis over the film protests exposes a challenge for new empowered Islamist parties, to stand up to ultra-conservatives, writes Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times.

The film saga exposes a broader problem. It comes at a time when parties in power are coming under growing pressure to stand up to Salafi attempts to impose their own austere interpretation of Islam on society. Salafis have attacked Sufi shrines in Libya and arts festivals in Tunisia and want curbs on religious freedom of expression in Egypt.

The more moderate Islamists claim to oppose the Salafi agenda but their criticism is often ambiguous – because they are afraid of alienating the Salafis or, in fact, because they sympathise with their demands.

The security forces in Yemen have blocked streets surrounding the US embassy in Sana'a on Friday, in anticipation of more protests.

Mohammed Albasha, Yemen's spokesman in Washington, has tweeted details of the security deployment outside the embassy.

Reuters adds:

Early on Friday, around 20 to 30 people had gathered on the north side of the embassy, carrying placards and shouting slogans against the film, which depicts the Prophet Mohammad in terms which many Muslims have described as crude and insulting.

"We will carry on demonstrating until the United States bans that film," teenage demonstrator Mahmoud said.

A soldier on duty near the embassy told Reuters security forces were expecting more demonstrators to arrive after Friday prayers, which begin at 0930 GMT.

Local media reported on Friday that a group of U.S. marines had flown into Sanaa's international airport on Thursday to bolster the embassy's security.

Sana'a-based journalist Adam Baron remarks:

Members of Tunisia's interim parliament, the Constituent Assembly, have roundly condemned the anti-Islamic film, ahead of planned protest today after Friday prayers, writes Eileen Byrne in Tunis.

On Thursday the mood was relaxed outside the US embassy in Tunis, with just one very elderly demonstrator wrapped in an Islamist flag, and police looking like they didn't know what to do with him. The army stood by.

News coverage on state-owned TV and radio channels have downplayed the story of yesterday's demos elsewhere in the world, putting the news very low down the agenda.

The Nahda-led government appears to hope hopes that the march after Friday prayers will be a useful escape valve for any tension, while not going beyond a bit of flag-burning.

Many Tunisians were shocked by the killing of the US ambassador in Libya.

Anti-US protests have spread to Kashmir. Citizen journalist Azhar Qadri.

Photographs have also emerged of lawyers protesting about the film in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir.

Many in Benghazi are sceptical about Libyan authorities' willingness to track down those responsible for Tuesday attack on the US consulate, Chris Stephen reports from the city.

In a telephone update he said:

We have been told by the interior ministry that four people have been arrested, but they haven’t been named and there’s a lot of cynicism in Benghazi about this announcement. They think it is more about placating the Americans. There is no interest in any investigation [into what happened in Benghazi] ... Frankly one wonders whether the Libyan authorities really want to get to the bottom of this.

FBI investigators and US marines are due to arrive in Benghazi today, as the authorities closed airspace to other traffic, Chris said.

We are also expecting the president of the parliament [Mohamed] Magariaf who has been quite outspoken against the Islamists. He does seem to want to take action, but whether the government will follow that I don’t know.

Frankly there are no signs that they [the Tripoli government] are taking this seriously. This may change, but the frustration here is very real. People in Benghazi say ‘This is not new we have had Jihadist attacks now for the last three or four months.’ Every time it happens there is announcement that there will be an investigation, but nothing happens.

That’s the frustration you feel in Benghazi. They feel they made a revolution and that the government let them down.

There have been a couple of pro-America protests ... There haven’t been any anti-American demonstrations here since the incident at the embassy [consulate] on Tuesday.

The mood in Libya is very different to Egypt. One doesn’t feel the anti-Americanism. I’ve been living here for a year and you very rarely find this hang up about the Americans. They really want to open up to the world, you don’t find this under current against the west.

Local residents blame the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia brigade for being behind Tuesday’s protests and the attacks. Chris added:

They deny it. They held a press conference last night to say it was nothing to do with us. One takes them at their word. But certainly there are extremist factions here and in eastern Libya who are responsible for a lot of these attack. The question is how far do the Americans want to push it? How far does the Libyan government want to take them on?

Welcome to Middle East Live. Protests against a US-made anti-Islamic film are expected to increase in size and reach following Friday prayers today acrossNorth Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Here's a roundup of the latest developments.

Libya

Libyan authorities say they have made arrests in the investigation into the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that left US ambassador Chris Stevens and three state department staff dead."Some people have been arrested and are under investigation," deputy interior minister Wanis Sharif told Reuters on Thursday. "We are gathering evidence." He did not give further details.

Reports that the attack on the consulate building was the work of an isolated group seemed to be at odds with the extent of the damage to the building, Chris Stephen reports from the Benghazi.

The Islamist Ansar al-Sharia brigade is blamed by many here for the violence, particularly with the appearance of a video that appears to show two US embassy vehicles plundered from the burning compound being driven into the brigade's Benghazi barracks. Brigade leaders have issued a denial of responsibility but were unwilling to talk to journalists on Thursday.

Egypt

The Freedom and Justice party, the political wing of President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, has backed calls for protests against the anti-Islamic film. In a statement it affirmed that "peaceful expression of protest against the latest anti-Islam film is both the right and the duty of all Egyptian people, Muslims and Christians alike, to voice their anger for the honour of Prophet Mohammed, and to counter all attempts to ignite sedition between the two elements of this great nation." But it urgeddemonstrators outside the US embassy to show restraint and tolerance.

Clashes between protesters and security forces continued near the US embassy in Cairo's after a third night of demonstrations, Ahram online reports. Earlier Morsi, moved to limit damage to sensitive relations with the US by pledging to protect foreign embassies on the eve of the new protest.

Yemen

Four people died and dozens of protesters and guards were injured in clashes outside the US embassy in Yemen. Hundreds of protesters stormed the embassy compound where they smashed windows, burned cars and the US flag.

US response

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton called for for political and religious leaders to stand up against violence over what she called a "disgusting, reprehensible and cynical" anti-Muslim film as protests spread across the Middle East and beyond.Speaking with senior Moroccan officials in Washington, she said: "We absolutely reject its content and message."

The maker of the video which triggered violence was believed to be hunkered in his California home amid a media siege and revelations about his criminal record.Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, stayed hidden from view on Thursday as television crews camped outside his door in a leafy suburb of Cerros, just outside Los Angeles.

Google, the owner of YouTube, blocked access toEgyptandLibya, in an attempt to defuse the fury over the "Innocence of Muslim" film, but it did not remove the video from its site, the New York Times reports.Google said it decided to block the video in response to violence that killed four American diplomatic personnel in Libya.

Syria