In a rare public appearance, the leader of the
militant Hezbollah group exhorted hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to
keep up the campaign against an anti-Islam video that has unleashed deadly
violence and anger at the United States across the Muslim world.
Although the massive, well-organized rally in
Beirut was peaceful, protesters in Afghanistan set fires near a U.S. military
base, clashed with police in Pakistan, where one demonstrator was killed, and
battled with officers outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, the world's
most populous Muslim country.
The turmoil surrounding the low-budget video
that mocks the Prophet Muhammad showed no sign of ebbing in the week after
protesters first swarmed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Four
Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, died amid a demonstration in
the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
At least 10 protesters have died in the riots,
and the targeting of Western diplomatic sites has forced Washington to increase
security in several countries. Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut
destroyed classified material as a security precaution, according to a State
Department status report.
The appeal for sustained protests by Sheikh
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, could stoke
more fury over the video, "Innocence of Muslims." Nasrallah has
rarely been seen in public since his group battled Israel in a month-long war
in 2006, fearing Israeli assassination. Since then, he has communicated with
his followers and gives news conference mostly via satellite link.
He spoke for about 15 minutes before a
rapturous crowd estimated by police at about 500,000, many with headbands of
green and yellow — the colors of Hezbollah — and the words "at your
service God's prophet" written on them.
Nasrallah, who last appeared in public in
December 2011 to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura, warned of serious
repercussions if the U.S. does not ban the film and have it removed from the
Internet.
"The world should know that our anger is
not a passing thing. ... This is the start of a serious campaign that must
continue all over the Muslim world in defense of the prophet of God," he
said to roars of support.
"As long as there's blood in us, we will
not remain silent over insults against our prophet," Nasrallah said,
calling for a series of demonstrations this week to denounce the video.
Hezbollah's rallies seem aimed at keeping the
issue alive by bringing out large crowds. But the group, whose reputation
across the Arab world has suffered over its support of the Syrian regime, also
appeared to be trying to ensure it did not spiral into violence.
Notably, Hezbollah held Monday's protest in its
own mainly Shiite stronghold of Dahieh in south Beirut, far from the U.S.
Embassy in the mountains north of the capital or other international diplomatic
missions. Protesters demonstrated their fury by punching their fists in the air
as they shouted anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans, but remained peaceful.
One politician, former Lebanese President Amin
Gemayel, sharply criticized Hezbollah's call for protests, saying there were no
guarantees they would remain peaceful.
"We understand how the Muslims feel
because of this insult against the prophet and the Quran ... but is this the
way to defend them?" he asked at a news conference.
The movie portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a
fraud, a womanizer and a child molester. Protesters have directed their anger
at the U.S. government, insisting it should do something to stop it, although
the film was privately produced. American officials have criticized it for
intentionally offending Muslims.
Protests turned violent for the first time in
Afghanistan as hundreds of people burned cars and threw rocks at a U.S.
military base in the capital, Kabul. Many in the crowd shouted "Death to
America!" and "Death to those people who have made a film and
insulted our prophet."
Afghan religious leaders urged calm after
protests broke out in Kabul.
"Our responsibility is to show a peaceful
reaction, to hold peaceful protests. Do not harm people, their property or
public property," said cleric Karimullah Saqib.
On the main thoroughfare through the city,
demonstrators burned tires, shipping containers and at least one police vehicle
before they were dispersed. Police shot in the air to prevent about 800 protesters
from pushing toward government buildings downtown, said Azizullah, a police
officer at the site who, like many Afghans, only goes by one name.
More than 20 police officers were slightly
injured, most by rocks, said Gen. Fahim Qaim, the commander of a city
quick-reaction police force.
The rallies will continue "until the
people who made the film go to trial," said Kabul protester, Wahidullah
Hotak, among several dozen people demonstrating in front of a mosque, demanding
President Barack Obama bring the makers of the video to justice.
Several hundred demonstrators in northwestern
Pakistan clashed with police after setting fire to a press club and a
government building, said police official Mukhtar Ahmed. The protesters
apparently attacked the press club in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province's Upper Dir
district because they were angry their rally wasn't getting more coverage, he
said.
Police charged the crowd in the town of Wari,
beating protesters back with batons, Ahmad said. The demonstrators then attacked
the office of a senior government official and surrounded a local police
station, said Ahmad, who locked himself inside with several other officers.
One protester died when police and
demonstrators exchanged fire, and several others were wounded, police official
Akhtar Hayat said.
Several hundred people chanted slogans and
burned an American flag outside the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of
Lahore. Some who tried to reach the wall of the consulate scuffled with
baton-wielding police.
Hundreds battled police for a second day in the
southern city of Karachi as they tried to reach the U.S. Consulate. Police
lobbed tear gas and fired in the air to disperse the protesters, who were from
the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Police arrested 40 students, but
no injuries were reported, said senior police officer Asif Ejaz Shaikh.
Pakistanis have also held many peaceful
protests against the film, including one in the southwest town of Chaman on
Monday attended by around 3,000 students and teachers.
The chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court
ordered the government's telecommunications authority to block access to the
film. Government officials have said they are trying to block the video, as
well as other content considered blasphemous, but it was still viewable Monday
on YouTube.
Hundreds of Indonesians clashed with police
outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, hurling rocks and firebombs and setting
tires on fire.
At least 10 police were taken to the hospital
after being hit with rocks and attacked with bamboo sticks, said Police Chief
Maj. Gen. Untung Rajad. He said four protesters were arrested and one was
hospitalized.
Demonstrators burned a picture of Obama and
also tried to ignite a fire truck parked outside the embassy after ripping a
water hose off the vehicle and torching it. Police used a bullhorn to appeal
for calm and deployed water cannons and tear gas to try to disperse the crowd.
"We will destroy America like this
flag!" a protester screamed while burning a U.S. flag. "We will chase
away the American ambassador from the country!"
Demonstrations were also held Monday in the
Indonesian cities of Medan and Bandung.
German authorities are considering whether to
ban the public screening of the film because it could endanger public security,
Chancellor Angela Merkel said. A fringe far-right political party says it plans
to show the film in Berlin in November.
Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
called on Western countries to block the film to prove they are not
"accomplices" in a "big crime," according to Iranian state
TV.
U.S. officials say they cannot limit free
speech and Google Inc. refuses to do a blanket ban on the YouTube video clip.
This leaves individual countries putting up their own blocks.
Job 18:11- Terrors shall make him afraid on
every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
job 24: 17- For the morning [is] to them even
as the shadow of death: if [one] know [them, they are in] the terrors of the
shadow of death.
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