Peshawar, Pakistan – Pakistani Protests Of Anti-Muslim Film Turn Deadly

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    Pakistani protestors throw stones toward the police during clashes that erupted as protestors tried to approach the U.S. embassy, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis infuriated by an anti-Islam film descended into deadly violence on Friday, with police firing tear gas and live ammunition in an attempt to subdue rioters who hurled rocks and set fire to buildings in some cities.  Four people were killed and dozens injured on a holiday declared by Pakistan's government so people could rally against the video. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)Peshawar, Pakistan – Protests over an anti-Muslim film turned violent Friday across Pakistan, with police firing tear gas and live ammunition at thousands of demonstrators who threw rocks and set fire to buildings. At least 15 people were killed and dozens were injured.

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    Muslims also marched in at least a half-dozen other countries, with some burning American flags and effigies of U.S. President Barack Obama.

    Pakistan has experienced nearly a week of deadly protests over the film, “Innocence of Muslims,” that has sparked anti-American violence around the Islamic world since it emerged on the Internet in the past 10 days. The deaths of at least 45 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been linked to the violence over the film, which was made in California and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.

    The Pakistani government declared Friday to be a national holiday — “Love for the Prophet Day” — and encouraged peaceful protests.

    The U.S. Embassy spent $70,000 for advertisements on Pakistani TV that featured Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denouncing the video. Their comments, which are from previous public events in Washington, are in English but subtitled in Urdu, the main Pakistani language.

    The deadliest violence occurred in the southern port city of Karachi, where 12 people were killed and 82 wounded, according to Seemi Jamali and Aftab Channar, officials at two hospitals.
    A Pakistani protestor hurls back a tear gas canister fired by police during clashes that erupted as protestors tried to approach the U.S. embassy, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis infuriated by an anti-Islam film descended into deadly violence on Friday, with police firing tear gas and live ammunition in an attempt to subdue rioters who hurled rocks and set fire to buildings in some cities.  Four people were killed and dozens injured on a holiday declared by Pakistan's government so people could rally against the video. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
    Armed demonstrators among a crowd of 15,000 in that city fired on police, according to police officer Ahmad Hassan. The crowd also burned two cinemas and a bank, he said.

    Three people were killed and 61 wounded in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said police official Bashir Khan. Police fired on rioters who set fire to two movie theaters and the city’s chamber of commerce, and damaged shops and vehicles.

    One of the dead was identified as Mohammad Amir, a driver for a Pakistani TV station who was killed when police bullets hit his vehicle, which was parked near the cinema, said Kashif Mahmood, a reporter for ARY TV who also was in the car. The TV channel showed doctors at a hospital trying unsuccessfully to save Amir’s life.

    Police beat demonstrators with batons. Later in the day, tens of thousands of protesters converged in a neighborhood and called for the maker of the film, an American citizen originally from Egypt, to be executed.
    A Pakistani police officer throws stone as others prepare to fire tear gas at protesters during clashes that erupted as protestors tried to approach the U.S. embassy, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis infuriated by an anti-Islam film descended into deadly violence on Friday, with police firing tear gas and live ammunition in an attempt to subdue rioters who hurled rocks and set fire to buildings in some cities. Four people were killed and dozens injured on a holiday declared by Pakistan's government so people could rally against the video. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
    Police and stone-throwers also clashed in Lahore and Islamabad, the capital. Police fired tear gas and warning shots to try to keep them from advancing toward U.S. missions in the cities.

    Hospital official Tanveer Malik says 25 people were wounded in Islamabad.

    Police clashed with over 10,000 demonstrators in several neighborhoods, including in front of a five-star hotel near the diplomatic enclave where the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions are located. A military helicopter buzzed overhead as the sound of tear gas being fired echoed across the city.

    The government temporarily blocked cellphone service in 15 major cities to prevent militants from using phones to detonate bombs during the protests, said an Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Blocking cellphones could make it harder for people to organize protests as well.

    Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires in Islamabad, Richard Hoagland, over the film. Pakistan has banned access to YouTube because the website refused to remove the video.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had urged the international community to pass laws to prevent people from insulting the prophet.

    “If denying the Holocaust is a crime, then is it not fair and legitimate for a Muslim to demand that denigrating and demeaning Islam’s holiest personality is no less than a crime?” Ashraf said in a speech to religious scholars and international diplomats in Islamabad.

    Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany, but not in the U.S.

    U.S. officials have tried to explain to the Muslim world how they strongly disagree with the anti-Islam film but have no ability to block it because of free speech guarantees.

    In Iraq, about 3,000 protesters condemned the film and caricatures of the prophet that were published in a French satirical weekly. The protest in the southern city of Basra was organized by Iranian-backed Shiite groups. Some protesters raised Iraqi flags and posters of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting: “Death to America.”

    Protesters burned Israeli and U.S. flags and raised a banner that read: “We condemn the offenses made against the prophet.”

    In the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, about 2,000 Muslims burned effigies of Obama and U.S. flags at a protest after Friday prayers, demanding that the United States ban the film. In Bangladesh, more than 2,000 people marched in the capital, Dhaka, and burned a makeshift coffin draped in an American flag and an effigy of Obama.

    They also burned a French flag to protest the publication of the caricatures of the prophet. Small and mostly orderly protests were also held in Malaysia and Indonesia.

    Thousands gathered in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for the latest in a series of rallies organized by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Protesters carried the yellow Hezbollah flag.

    Hezbollah appeared to be trying to ensure the gatherings don’t become violent, planning them only in areas where Hezbollah has control. None of the rallies targets the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in the hills outside Beirut.

    Police clamped a daylong curfew in parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar, and chased away protesters opposing the anti-Islam film. Authorities in the region also temporarily blocked cell phone and Internet services to prevent viewing the film clips.

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also lashed out at the West over the film and the caricatures in the French weekly, Charlie Hebdo.

    “In return for (allowing) the ugliest insults to the divine messenger, they — the West — raise the slogan of respect for freedom of speech,” said Ahmadinejad during a speech in the capital, Tehran.

    He said this explanation was “clearly a deception.”

    In Germany, the Interior Ministry said it was postponing a poster campaign aimed at countering radical Islam among young people due to tensions caused by the online video insulting Islam. It said posters for the campaign — in German, Turkish and Arabic — were meant to go on display in German cities with large immigrant populations on Friday but are being withheld because of the changed security situation. Germany is home to an estimated 4 million Muslims.


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    7 Comments
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    Tzi_Bar_David
    Tzi_Bar_David
    11 years ago

    That’s right…that’s how you teach the US a lesson. Riot in your own town and kill your own people. Keep it up, the more of yourselves you kill the more the Americans will learn not to disrespect the prophet.

    Liepa
    Liepa
    11 years ago

    If these blazing lunatics feel that killings are in vogue since the release of this video, then by allmeans, be my guest!

    MrSmith
    MrSmith
    11 years ago

    I don’t believe it, some yo yo in California insulted your prophet? I’m going to cry, I bet most of these savages didn’t even see this stupid film. They need no excuse to riot,burn & kill they were born to it.

    Benabenja
    Benabenja
    11 years ago

    The wild animals went out the zoos!

    curious
    curious
    11 years ago

    Our religion is peaceful. Our prophet is peaceful. Our religion’s name means peace. If you disagree, I’ll kill you!

    STRAIGHT_FACTS
    STRAIGHT_FACTS
    11 years ago

    interesting… Mr. President and Clinton spend American dollars overseas for an ad campaign trying to educate violent protesters. The USA is saturated with immigrants (legal and illegal) from many of the countries that are so violently protesting with hatred against the USA as well as Obama. Why not spend our money on ads in our country and educate Muslims from those countries living here and let them know that unless they send a strong and unified message to their protesting brothers overseas; their lives may be in danger here. There is only a certain amount of abuse that American citizens will take and eventually some of them WILL NOT REFUSE TO DRAW A RED LINE and say enough is enough and take matters into their own hands. I haven’t heard of any Muslim Clerics apologizing to the American public for the outrageous behavior of so many Muslims in so many Muslim countries. Mr. President; wake up and realize what Iran is capable of doing should they acquire nuclear weapons! As you can see blood can boil for no reason at all and your pleas and ads can’t even stop their unrest how do you expect to control Iran should they get stronger? Enough time wasted!

    ChachoMoe
    ChachoMoe
    11 years ago

    “U.S. officials have tried to explain to the Muslim world how they strongly disagree with the anti-Islam film but have no ability to block it because of free speech guarantees.”

    Ahem, good luck explaining that concept to a society that has no inkling what that means!