warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Anti-American Protests Spread To Kabul, Jakarta

Sarah Parvini |
September 17, 2012 | 10:00 a.m. PDT

Senior News Editor

The flag of Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons)
The flag of Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons)
Fresh protests over the anti-Islam film that has inflamed much of the Muslim world erupted in Afghanistan and Indonesia on Monday, as protestors burned U.S. flags and chanted "Death to America," Reuters reported

More than 1,000 people protested in Kabul, according to Al-Jazeera, setting shops on fire and throwing rocks at police, as the militant group Hezbollah called for more unrest in the region. 

“They can express their pure Islamic emotions, but this is not the way to do it,” an unnamed protestor told the New York Times. “The government built this road with money we beg from foreigners, and now they are destroying it.” 

In Jakarta--capital the most populous Muslim nation--police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse groups of activists who crowded the U.S. embassy. 

The demonstrations are the latest in a slew that spread throughout the Middle East, provoked by the online video "Innocence of Muslims." The film, paid for with private funds in the U.S., painted the Muslim Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer. 

The protests follow last week's bloodshed in Benghazi, Libya, where U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate. Several embassies throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East have since been stormed by angry Muslims, offended by what they  claim is condoned intolerance.

In light of this violence, the U.S. has sent ships, troops and special forces to protect its interests and citizens in the Middle East; many embassies have been evacuated and are on high alert, Reuters said.

Monday's Afghan protests conjure images of the violent and deadly protests that swept the country earlier this year over the burning of Qurans by American soldiers at a base north of Kabul.

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the Middle East protests here and here.

Reach Senior News Editor Sarah Parvini here; follow her on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.