A Kashmiri Muslim with his face covered burns a mock American flag as others shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, India, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012.
Anti-American protests are erupting across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia on Friday as anger continues to spread over a U.S.-made film that ridicules the prophet Muhammad.
On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed by an armed mob that set fire to the consulate in Benghazi in response to the film. The U.S. Embassy near Cairo's Tahrir Square was also attacked.
Friday, protests continued in Cairo, and spread to Sana'a, Yemen; Tunis, Tunisia; Tehran, Iran; Beirut, Lebanon; Damascus, Syria; Karachi, Pakistan; Mogadishu, Somalia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and at least five other cities in the Middle East.
We will be following along with live updates from the protests below.
4:00 p.m.: Closing up the live blog
As we close up the live blog, a black flag continues to fly over the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia. Protesters have died in Egypt, Lebanon and Sudan. American flags were burned in London. Western fast food restaurants were targeted in Lebanon. Effigies of President Obama were burned in India.
Here, see an annotated map of where the protests took place.
3:10 p.m.: Death in Cairo
The Associated Press reports that an Egyptian protester has died in clashes with police near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The Wall Street Journal has video of the protests at the embassy. The video shows demonstrators setting fires and throwing rocks over the embassy wall:
3:00 p.m.: President Obama, Secretary Clinton decry violence
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama addressed the violence spreading across the Middle East and North Africa at a homecoming ceremony Friday for the bodies of the four slain Americans.
Speaking at Andrews Air Force Base, Clinton blamed the violence on what she called an "awful Internet video," saying it was "hard for the American people to make sense of this because it is senseless."
The Secretary also made reference to the Arab Spring, saying Arab nations "did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob."
Obama asked Americans to keep the faith, saying the U.S. would do everything in its power to keep its people serving abroad safe, and that he will "[make] clear that justice will come to those who harm Americans."
"Even in our grief," he said, "we’ll be resolute, for we are Americans, and we hold our heads high."
2:30 p.m.: Anti-American images from around the world
Anti-American imagery is showing up around the world Friday at angry protests against a film that mocks the prophet Muhammad.
Below, an Indian protester kicks at graffiti of the American flag on a wall of the U.S. consulate in Chennai:
Here, protesters in Tehran burn an American flag:
In Gaza City, Hamas supporters burn U.S. and Israeli flags and an effigy of a man involved with the promotion of the film, Morris Sadek.
2:07 p.m.: White House asks YouTube to review anti-Islamic film
The online clip of the "Innocence of Muslims," the anti-Islamic film that sparked the protests, has gone viral. By some reports, the clip has garnered over 300,000 hits in two days, while original, English-language clip got only 10,000 views between June 1 and September 12.
According to the Washington Post, the White House has asked YouTube to review the clip to see whether it violates the video sharing site's terms of use.
2:00 p.m.: Arrests in Chennai, India
(Indian protesters hold black flags and a placard showing an image of U.S. President Barack Obama in Chennai Friday.)
Indian police arrested 86 protesters in Chennai after violence broke out at the U.S. consulate there.
“They smashed the window panes, surveillance camera and tried to scale over the compound wall, but we dispersed them while exercising restraint,” a senior police officer told the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
Protesters also burnt an American flag and an effigy of President Obama.
Video of the protest:
1:30 p.m.: Chaos in Tunis
It appears that the violence has escalated in Tunis.
According to Tunisia's official news agency, two people have been killed and 29 injured at the protest at the U.S. embassy there.
Tunisian journalist Mohamed Al Souissi was reportedly beaten by protesters at the embassy, according to another journalist, Mohamed El Dahshan. El Dahshan says Al Souissi's camera was also stolen.
Minutes later, Al Souissi tweeted that he was "sore" and "upset because of what I saw and not because of what I experienced."
A video posted to Facebook by a Tunisian group shows what appeared to be a U.S. diplomatic bus engulfed in flames near the embassy.
Forty miles away from the embassy, the smoke above the building could be seen:
La fumée au niveau de #UEmbassyTn est visible depuis Hammam lif twitter.com/merKKur/status…
— merKKur-O-Ch®ome (@merKKur) September 14, 2012
1:24 p.m.: White House responds to violence
In a press conference, White House spokesman Jay Carney said of the violence:
"This is not a case of protests directed at the United States writ large or at U.S. policy. This is in response to video that is offensive and -- to Muslims."
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a homecoming ceremony Friday at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for the bodies of the four Americans killed in Libya , al-Jazeera reports.
1:05 p.m.: Counter-protests in Benghazi
Not all the protests are anti-American. In Benghazi, Libya, where a U.S. ambassador was killed Tuesday, al-Jazeera correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports of protests condemning the violence.
Other protest near couthouse in #Benghazi condemning the killing of the US ambassador
— Hoda Abdel-Hamid (@HodaAH) September 14, 2012
This sign says: "Real freedom fighters don't assault their guests":
1:00 p.m.: Death toll rises
According to al-Jazeera, the latest death toll in the protests has risen to seven.
Three protesters reportedly died in Sudan in clashes with police, while two protesters were killed in the demonstrations in Lebanon. In Yemen, two protesters died while trying to storm the U.S. embassy.
12:40 p.m.: Protesters set fire to American school in Tunis
Reuters reports that protesters have set fire to the American School in the Tunisian capital of Tunis. Protesters there are chanting an anti-American slogan: "Obama, Obama, we are all Osamas," comparing President Barack Obama to deceased al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
At the U.S. embassy compound, a live stream shows black smoke rising in a giant cloud.
Gunfire could also be heard, and a black flag is hanging over the embassy building:
Black flag over #usembassytunis twitter.com/yarotrof/statu…
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) September 14, 2012
12:20 p.m.: Marines go to Yemen to respond to violence
About 2,000 protesters marched on the U.S. embassy in Yemen's capital of Sana'a Friday. On Thursday, protesters burned the American flag there.
The Associated Press reports that an elite Marine rapid response team of 50 is now in Sana'a to respond to the violence. Embassy employees are being transported to a safer location.
This is what it looks like outside the embassy, according to the Yemen Times:
Photo: protestor in front of smoke cloud outside U.S. #embassy #Sanaa #Yemen twitter.com/theyementimes/…
— The Yemen Times (@theyementimes) September 13, 2012
12:00 p.m.: Map of protests around the world
View Muslim Protests in a larger map
(Via The Atlantic Wire.)
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