Anti-American Protests Spread to More Countries, Warnings at Seven Embassies

Protesters turned out in Tunisia, Morocco, and Sudan today as US embassies in at least seven countries warned of possible attacks sparked by outrage over an anti-Islamic film.

In Tunisia, some 200 protesters turned up at the US embassy and police responded by firing “teargas andrubber bullets into the air” to disperse the crowd. Soldiers protected the embassy. There were no injuries reported.

In Morocco a crowd of more than 300 gathered near the US consulate in Casablanca. A photo of the scene shows police standing before barricades. No violence has been reported but protesters shouted “Death to Obama!”

And in Sudan, a few hundred protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Khartoum. The group, which called itself “Sudanese Youth” delivered a list of written demands to staff at the Embassy. Staff described the demands as “asking for an immediate apology, removal of the YouTube video,” and criticism of Pastor Terry Jones.

Pastor Terry Jones scheduled an anti-Islamic protest yesterday but has claimed he has no connection to the film “The Innocence of Muslims” beyond showing it once. The film’s producer was interviewed by various news outlets yesterday as Sam Bacile, but today someone connected to the production claimed this is not the producer’s real name but a pseudonym.

Until recently, the ultra-low budget film was only available on YouTube in English. But on September 4th, Bacile uploaded a portion of the film to YouTube in Arabic. From there it spread to Arabic television and was condemned by Salafi leaders in Egypt.

There are now indications that the film may not have been the motivation for the deadly attack in Benghazi. That attack appears to be the work of Al Qaeda, who merely used the protest over the film as an opportunity to enlist large crowds to aid in the killings.