Anti-American protests continue in Cairo

Anti-American protesters, sparked by a U.S.-made film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, demonstrated near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for a fourth day Friday. Witnesses said protests threw rocks and Molotov cocktails the U.S. Embassy and police tried to disperse the crowd by firing tear gas, The New York Times reported. State media reported that more than 220 people have been injured in clashes since Tuesday, the day U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. U.S. and other international leaders said anti-American militants may have used protests over the video as a cover. In the film "Innocence of Muslims," the Prophet Muhammad is portrayed as a gay, alcohol-imbibing, power-hungry sham. The Libyan government said Thursday it arrested four people in the consulate attack as Libyan and U.S. officials mounted a manhunt for others believed to be involved. The unrest expanded to other countries, including Yemen, where protesters Thursday broke through the outer security perimeter of the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa and clashes with police claimed two lives. On Friday, Yemeni security forces backed by water cannons blocked streets near the embassy as several dozen protesters gathered near the mission, carrying posters and shouting slogans. Egyptian leaders have been working to repair diplomatic strains with the United States that was created when by their initial response to Tuesday's assault on U.S. Embassy, when they focused more on anti-American opinion than on condemning the violence, the Times said. During a phone call Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi that U.S.-Egyptian relations could be in danger if Cairo failed to protect U.S. diplomats and failed to respond more firmly against the attacks. Obama told U.S. Spanish-language TV network Telemundo that Egypt wasn't necessarily a U.S. "ally." The White House and State Department quickly played down the remark. "The president, in diplomatic and legal terms, was speaking correctly, that we do not have an alliance treaty with Egypt," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday, adding, "'Ally' is a legal term of art." Morsi on Thursday charged the Egyptian mission in the United States to take legal steps against the film's makers and condemned "whoever tries to abuse or exercise abuse of any kind against our prophet or any of the Islamic holy sites," the Egypt Independent said. Morsi also pledged to protect the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. A concrete block wall was erected to separate the embassy in Cairo from the nearby Omar Makram Mosque and Tahrir Square, the Independent said. In a letter published in The New York Times, Khairat el-Shater, Muslim Brotherhood deputy president, said, "Despite our resentment of the continued appearance of productions like the anti-Muslim film that led to the current violence, we do not hold the American government or its citizens responsible for acts of the few that abuse the laws protecting freedom of expression." He said the breech of the U.S. Embassy was "illegal under international law" and the failure of police to protect the compound be investigated. One person told the Independent demonstrators were protesting to "preserve the dignity of our prophet." "It is forbidden to depict the prophet, especially when they say the exact opposite of the truth about him. Whereas he was compassionate, generous and forgiving, they depicted him as a bloodthirsty man who is only after sex," said Othman al-Gharably, who said he saw excerpts of the film on Facebook. Obama must apologize to Muslims and Morsi must "take steps and expel the American ambassador," al-Gharably said. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has condemned the violent acts on U.S. missions in Cairo and Benghazi, with the secretary-general saying such actions could not be condoned under any circumstances, Khaama Press reported. Speaking from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the anti-Islam film was deplorable but reacting with violence cannot be accepted. Ihsanoglu called for restraint and urged law enforcement officials to do what was necessary to restore calm. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for a nationwide peaceful demonstration Friday to condemn the "Innocence of Muslims" video. Other anti-American protests flared outside U.S. embassies in Tunisia and Morocco and in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, various media outlets reported. In Gaza, Palestinians demonstrated outside U.N. headquarters. About 500 Iranians protested near the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, chanting "Death to America!" and calling for the film director's death. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Iran because Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations. Several hundred protesters in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite Sadr City area marched through the streets chanting, "America is the enemy of the people," while some people burned the American flag, CNN reported. Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced both the anti-Islam video and the violence in Libya. Clinton called the video "reprehensible" and said Thursday "we absolutely reject its content and message," making clear the U.S. government had no role in it. At the same time, there was "no justification -- none at all -- for responding to this video with violence," she said.