Muslim demonstrators hold banners during a protest in front of the U.S. embassy in Bangkok September 18, 2012. Demonstrators staged a peaceful protest against the anti-Islam film on Tuesday.
Protests against an anti-Islam film spread to Bangkok, Thailand and Indian-controlled Kashmir Tuesday, while an insurgent group in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for a suicide attack it says was a response to the video.
The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok closed at midday, ahead of a planned protest, but said it was not aware of any specific threat to Americans.
The protests in Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir, turned violent as stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida＇s North Africa branch issued a statement calling for further attacks against U.S. diplomats in retaliation for the low-budget film that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester, among other overtly insulting claims.
The group specifically threatened attacks in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania.
Demonstrations and violence have hit around 20 countries since last week, when the American ambassador in Libya and three of his staff were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Also Tuesday, officials in Bangladesh said the country blocked access to YouTube in order to prevent people from seeing the video.
Pakistan ordered its own block Monday after Google, which owns the video sharing website, refuse to remove the clip.
Google has barred access to the video, itself, in Libya, Egypt, Indonesia and India.
On Monday, the leader of the Shi＇ite militant group Hezbollah called for sustained protests in a rare public appearance before thousands of supporters at a rally in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accused U.S. spy agencies of being behind events that have unleashed a wave of anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim and Arab world.
Washington has sent ships, extra troops and special forces to protect U.S. interests and citizens in the Middle East, while a number of its embassies have evacuated staff and are on high alert for trouble.
The man allegedly behind the obscure, private film, The Innocence of Muslims, was questioned Saturday by U.S. authorities in California. |
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