Angry protesters stormed the German and British embassies in Khartoum as anti-U.S. protests related to an anti-Islam video spread across the Arab world after Friday prayers.
“The German Embassy in Khartoum is currently the target of attacks by aggressive protesters,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.
“The Sudanese ambassador was summoned this morning. His nation’s duty to protect diplomatic missions was clearly explained to him,” Mr. Westerwelle said, adding that diplomats were safe.
According to broadcaster Al Jazeera , protesters replaced the German flag with a black one. Security forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd, which was trying to set the building alight.
Angry mobs took to the streets of cities across West Asia and North Africa, ignoring an earlier plea for calm from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
In Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, at least one person was killed and 25 wounded during clashes with police.
Protesters vandalised a KFC restaurant in the port city before setting it on fire, the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The violence comes as Pope Benedict XVI was on a three-day “peace pilgrimage” to Lebanon.
In Cairo, where the protests first started, worshippers gathered after noon prayers and chanted slogans against the United States.
Hundreds of people gathered in the city’s Tahrir Square in central Cairo to condemn the film, with some calling on the government to expel the U.S. Ambassador.
More than 250 people were injured in Egypt on Thursday, according to the Health Ministry, in the fiercest clashes since Mohammed Morsy became the country’s president in June.
Speaking in Italy, Mr. Morsy pledged his government’s “utmost determination” to protect foreign diplomatic missions and tourists.
“We defend with the utmost determination against any kind of aggression, we reject the killing of these people,” Morsy said in Rome after talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
“Throughout the world, governments have the obligation to defend and protect diplomatic missions, tourists and all (foreign) guests ... and we do it,” the Egyptian leader added.
In Libya’s Benghazi, where the protests led to the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Tuesday, authorities suspended all flights to the eastern city.
Several suspects were arrested late Thursday in connection with the deaths of the four Americans, but Deputy Interior Minister Wanis Al-Sharif has not released any details.
Some of Friday’s biggest protests took place in Bangladesh, where an estimated 10,000 people marched after prayers from the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in central Dhaka towards the U.S. Embassy, the police said.
With protests also taking place in Afghanistan, Jordan, Iran and Yemen, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the Muslim world to show restraint.
“This film, which insults Islam and the prophet, is evil and provocative,” Mr. Erdogan said during an official visit to the Ukrainian resort city of Yalta. “But anyone who turns to violence is himself attempting to provoke Muslims. And we will not accept such provocations.”
Palestinians hurling rocks and bottles clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem after they were prevented from marching on the U.S. Consulate, while thousands took to the streets in the Gaza Strip.
In Tehran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the U.S. to punish the producers of the anti-Islam video.
“If the American officials are sincere in their claim that they have nothing to do with this film, then they must punish all elements behind this huge ugly crime,” the Ayatollah said.
