Middle East protests: mobs attack six Western embassies as protesters fill streets
Furious mobs attacked at least six Western embassies across the Muslim world, with protesters filling the streets in another eight countries, as crowds vented their rage over a video defaming the Prophet Mohammed.
By Richard Spencer, Cairo, Ruth Sherlock in Beirut and Adam Baron in Sana'a
8:18PM BST 14 Sep 2012
Stoned, burned, and pillaged, the West's diplomatic missions became the new front line in a war on the values for which their governments and societies stand.
From Nigeria in Africa's west, to Bangladesh in Asia's east, the freedoms which the United States and Europe thought were a beacon to the world were assaulted with stone and fire. Plumes of black smoke rose above western embassies in allies and "pariah" states alike.
On Friday, the British embassy in Sudan, once a place where the Empire pursued its romantic, if quixotic vision of development, was stormed. Chanting crowds took to the streets of cities as disparate as Jerusalem and Madras, Tripoli in Lebanon – where they burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken – and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, shouting messages of hate.
[SUB]Violent protests were held across the Muslim world, including (clockwise from top left) Sudan, Bangladesh, Lebanon and Yemen.[/SUB]
In Cairo, men wearing the characteristic beards and skull caps of the radical Salafi movement handed stones to teenage boys to hurl at the police.
There can be little Islamist complaint about the West's current role in Egypt, which less than three months ago chose as its first ever democratically elected leader a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The demonstrators were not this time complaining about western military intervention in their own countries; instead they were objecting to how western countries conduct their own affairs, their refusal to enact laws of blasphemy protecting Islam.
At least that was the pretext. What the United States and its allies must now be asking is this: have the last week's actions in fact been a conscious attempt to destabilise the region, and to use the opportunity of a policy of "soft engagement" led by President Barack Obama to assert a new radical agenda in which militants lead the way?
The unrest began in Cairo on Tuesday evening, the anniversary of September 11, but quickly spread to the Libyan city of Benghazi when Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, was killed in an assault on the US consulate. The violence was sparked seemingly by an anti-Islam film produced by a Coptic Christian Egyptian filmmaker based in the US.
On Friday, Mr Stevens' body, along with those of the three other Americans killed in the Benghazi attack, were repatriated, landing at Andrews Air Force base, Maryland, where they were met by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state.
In an emotional tribute, Mrs Clinton said: "The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob".
President Obama vowed to "stand fast" against anti-US violence in the Arab world.
"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten, we will bring to justice those who took them from us. We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions."
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony.[/SUB]
The violence continued unabated on Friday:
Egypt
The day began with a note of optimism. The Muslim Brotherhood, which was seemingly caught unawares by the attack on the US embassy in Cairo this week, cancelled its call for nationwide protests.
Alarmed at the damage that could be done to its own reputation as a ruling party – a conservative party offering law and order – it said it wanted to avoid loss of life and damage to property. Instead it called for a rally in Tahrir Square – the symbolic heart of the Arab Spring. Confused by the Brotherhood's mixed messages – or perhaps just unimpressed by the idea that Americans should be held responsible for a film apparently made and put online by Egyptians – the people failed to heed the call. No more than 2,000 people gathered in small groups at the eastern edge of the Square.
There were no more than that – probably half the number – at the other end, on the road leading to the US embassy. But they made their voice heard more loudly. The built a blockade of concrete to stop advances on the embassy, but were unable to move out and seize those who continued to hurl stones at them.
Sudan
Worse was to come elsewhere. A much larger mob, estimated at 5,000 strong, arriving by the busload, moved on the diplomatic quarter in Khartoum, first targeting the British and German embassies, which share a compound. The British embassy was successfully defended, but young men managed to climb the roof of the German embassy next door, tearing down its flag and replacing it, as happened at its American counterpart in Cairo on Tuesday, with the black flag of Islamic militancy.
From London, William Hague, the foreign secretary, said: "As it is the Sudanese weekend, very few staff were present in the Embassy. I am glad to say that all UK and Sudanese staff present during the attack are safe and that no injuries were sustained."
He said he had "raised concerns" with Sudan's ambassador, Abdullahi Hamad Ali Alazreg. The US embassy itself was next. Guards on the roof fired warning shots, those on the ground tear gas. In the melee, at least two people were killed, one hit by a speeding police vehicle trying to disperse the crowd.
Tunisia
Even countries seen as safe, liberal and westernised were not immune. Tunisia saw the opening shots of the Arab Spring, and its easiest revolution. The coalition government that replaced the dictatorship of Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali is led by an Islamist party, but moderate enough not to insist on Sharia as part of the constitution. Nevertheless, it has seen its share of violence from the radical Salafi movement whose purist interpretation of Islam has spread like wildfire across North Africa in the last decade. It took only a few dozen to storm the walls of the US embassy in Tunis, raising an Islamist flag and setting fire to cars parked outside.
Nejib Ben Lazreg, a local tour guide, said that one of the embassy's office blocks was set ablaze, along with an American school found opposite the mission. "There was black smoke and tear gas," he said. "People driving past could smell the tear gas. Gunshots were also heard." As the smoke rose, at least one helicopter hovered over the embassy while security forces fought to restore order. In the chaos at least three people died and 28 were hurt.
The violence was not limited to Arab countries. Nigerian police fired live rounds outside a mosque in the city of Jos, the scene of repeated sectarian violence involving its Muslim and Christian communities that has killed thousands of people in recent years. In Iran, there were protests after Friday prayers, with crowds shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". In Bangladesh, 5,000 took to the streets; thousands more in Indian-controlled Kashmir. In Madras, scores were arrested.
But some of the most worrying incidents occurred in Lebanon, already nervous because of the war in neighbouring Syria and in addition hosting the Pope on a long-awaited visit. While he was being greeted in Beirut, a crowd, just a few hundred strong but again apparently dominated by Salafists, gathered in Tripoli and set fire to an outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
One man, who called himself Khalil, told The Daily Telegraph that the Lebanese army had taken up positions. "It's more than five minutes that I can hear shooting outside," he said. "The Muslims here have distrust of Christians because they say that the makers of the movie are Coptic in Egypt."
One man was shot dead, though it was not clearly precisely how. If there was any relief, it was that feared demonstrations in the Yemeni capital Sana'a were less violent than on Thursday, when the US embassy was breached and four died. A higher level of security was able to keep crowds – again no more than a few hundred strong – at bay.
For years, any insult to Islam has sparked protests. Usually, they have died down after a few days, or weeks. It is not the fact of demonstrations that will concern western leaders this weekend, however.
It is rather their virulence, which suggests that western interests, and even well-protected embassies are not safe. That has dramatic implications for how they are defended. More worrying is that it seems the host governments no longer have the will or the strength to stand up to mobs.
President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt finally on Thursday made a pledge to protect foreigners in Egypt. With so much of the Arab world desperate for foreign investment, that promise may have come too late.
