Residents of over 20 countries around the world are indignant about the U.S. behavior. Protests are ongoing, and embassies are getting shut down. Riots began in Yemen and Egypt and spread to Bangladesh, Sudan, and Islamic regions of India and other Muslim countries. American politicians argue that the cause of the anger is the movie "Innocence of Muslims," and not the United States and its citizens.
The protests in Yemen did not stop even when President Abd Rabbo Hadi began an investigation after the unrest in the country after the appearance of the scandalous film online and promised to punish those responsible. In order to stop the protests, the police used water cannons and fired into the air.
In addition to Yemen, demonstrations were held in Lebanon, Sudan and Bangladesh. In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, 10,000 people tried to break through to the U.S. Embassy, but the police managed to prevent it using water cannons. In Egypt, 200 people suffered during protests. On September 14, hundreds of people came to the U.S. diplomatic mission to protest against the film. Young protesters threw stones at police, and law enforcement agents used tear gas in response.
In northern Lebanon, Tripoli, protesters set on fire a building that housed an American fast-food restaurant. The demonstrators were protesting against the film and against the Pope's visit to Lebanon. Local residents chanted slogans "No to insults of Islam."
Five thousand people in Sudan in the center of Khartoum stormed the UK and German embassies. Tear gas used by the police did not stop the angry crowds, and radical Sudanese broke into the territory of the German embassy, tore down the German flag and replaced it with the symbol of the Islamist organization.
In India, over 15 thousand people took to the streets. The protesters demanded to block the blasphemous and humiliating video on the web. The mufti of the state where protests took place called on all citizens of the United States to leave Jammu and Kashmir immediately.
In Kabul, thousands of people took to the streets yelling "Death to America". They set cars on fire, shops and stores in the downtown were closed. The police brought riot armor into the area. In Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, a protest at the U.S. Embassy also ended in riots. Nearly thousand protesters threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the embassy. Similar protests took place in Bandung and Medan.
In Copenhagen, 500 people gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy and the participants promised that they will have even bigger crowds. A U.S. consulate in London attracted nearly a thousand local Muslims.
International organizations and Western countries have condemned both the documentary and the reaction of Muslims. The EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton strongly condemned the actions of the protesters and the attacks on the U.S. Embassies and even expressed solidarity with the government of the United States. In turn, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the U.S. administration was not involved in the making of the documentary. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the documentary atrocious. At the same time, she believes that no films can be used as a justification of the attacks on U.S. diplomats.
The U.S. State Department is evacuating the employees of diplomatic missions in Tunisia and Sudan along with their families. Only the employees whose work is instrumental for the functioning of the embassies will continue working. The State Department recommended the Americans located in Tunisia to leave the country. Sudan, in turn, refused to allow the U.S. Marines on its territory to guard the U.S. Embassy. The authorities claimed that they would be able to protect the U.S. Embassy.
"Innocence of Muslims" was the last straw that broke the patience of the people of Muslim countries. Think about Syria, Libya and Egypt where the "rebels" with the assistance and guidance of the NATO forces began the fight with the current governments. Some time ago, the American troops fought with the inconvenient regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone knows about the outcome of those events - the impoverishment of the population coupled with political and economic instability in the region.
Hiding behind the slogans of fighting for the democracy, the Americans often try to impose their ideology on other nations and cultures, destroying local cultural and spiritual heritage. By a strange coincidence, the wrath of the White House is often aimed at the "anti-democratic" governments of the countries with ample oil resources. Incited by Washington, the international community accuses the authorities of these countries of human rights violations, repression, and other gruesome acts. As empirical evidence shows, this is usually followed by the proven mechanism: condemnation of the regime, demonstrations, international pressure, sanctions, assistance to the "rebels", bombings, introduction of troops, overthrow of the regime, and establishment of the "democracy." Do these countries see "democratic happiness?" Hardly.
The protests are formally only directed against the documentary and not the U.S. administration. However, the frustration with the U.S. global policy is obvious in the actions of the protesters. So far the Muslim world has not declared an open war on America, but if the United States continues to attempt to dictate the rules of conduct for individual countries and punish individual members of the international community for moving away from the principles of the American-style democracy, the consequences may be unpredictable.
Sergei Vasilenkov
Pravda.Ru
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