She also condemned the attack on the consulate in Libya “in the strongest terms.” In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Egyptian police had removed the demonstrators who entered the embassy grounds. “This is a very simple reaction to harming our prophet,” said another, bearded young protester, Abdel-Hamid Ibrahim. He said the group has now removed the black flag from the pole and laid it instead on a ladder on top of the wall.
One protester, Hossam Ahmed, said he was among those who entered the embassy compound and replaced the American flag with the black one. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry promised in a statement to provide the necessary security for diplomatic missions and embassies and warned that “such incidents will negatively impact the image of stability in Egypt, which will have consequences on the life of its citizens.” But security has been scaled back in recent months, with several roadblocks leading to the facility removed after legal court cases by residents. Embassy is built like a fortress, with a wall several meters (yards) high. The Cairo embassy is in a diplomatic area in Garden City, where the British and Italian embassies are located, only a few blocks away from Tahrir Square, the center of last year’s uprising that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Witnesses said much of the consulate was burned.
Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi and fired in the air after a protest against the film. In a sign of growing anger over the film, Libyans set fire to the U.S. The 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper triggered riots in many Muslim countries. Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way. A 14-minute trailer of the movie, posted on the social website YouTube in an original English version and another dubbed into Egyptian Arabic, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres. The protest was sparked by outrage over a video being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Embassy said on its Twitter account that there will be no visa services on Wednesday because of the protests.Ī senior Egyptian security official at the embassy area said authorities allowed the protest because it was “peaceful.” When they started climbing the walls, he said he called for more troops, denying that the protesters stormed the embassy. Some grumbled that Islamist President Mohammed Morsi had not spoken out about the movie.Ī group of women in black veils and robes that left only their eyes exposed chanted, “Worshippers of the Cross, leave the Prophet Muhammad alone.”īy midnight, the crowd had dwindled. Young men, some in masks, sprayed graffiti on the walls. The right of our prophet will not die.” Some shouted, “We are all Osama,” referring to al-Qaida leader bin Laden. Dozens of riot police lined up along the embassy walls but did not stop protesters as they continued to climb and stand on the wall - though it appeared no more went into the compound. The crowd grew throughout the evening with thousands standing outside the embassy. The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” The flag, similar to the banner used by al-Qaida, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that tore it apart. “Say it, don’t fear: Their ambassador must leave,” the crowd chanted.ĭozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the flag from a pole.
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