Editor's note: Several protests stemming at least in part from an anti-Islam film produced in the United States are unfolding outside U.S. embassies around the world. Friday's protests follow ones Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where attacks killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.
In Tunisia, protesters have scaled a U.S. Embassy gate and set fire to cars on the property, a journalist there says. In Egypt, the influential Muslim Brotherhood canceled nationwide protests planned for Friday, but a running battle between police and protesters in Cairo continued into its fourth day.
Follow the live blog below for all of the developments around the world.
[Updated at 3:04 p.m. ET] A ceremony at Maryland's Joint Base Andrews for the returned bodies of the four Americans killed at the Benghazi consulate has ended, and the caskets are being carried to hearses. See the 2:59 and 2:51 p.m. entries for remarks by President Barack Obama, who said the four laid down their lives "in service to us all."
[Updated at 2:59 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama, at a ceremony at Maryland's Joint Base Andrews for the returned bodies of the four Americans killed at the Benghazi consulate, added:
"The United States of America will never retreat from the world. We will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every (person) deserves. ... That’s the essence of American leadership. ... That was their work in Benghazi, and that is the work we will carry on."
At the beginning and toward the end of his remarks, Obama cited the Bible's John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Obama said the four killed Americans laid down their lives "in service to us all."
"Their sacrifice will never be forgotten," Obama said.
[Updated at 2:51 p.m. ET] President Barack Obama, at a ceremony for the returned bodies of the four Americans killed at the Benghazi consulate, is now eulogizing the four at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Ambassador Chris Stevens, Obama said, "was everything America could want in an ambassador."
"Four Americans, four patriots. They loved this country. They chose to serve it, and served it well," Obama said. "They had a mission they believed in. They knew the danger, and they accepted it. They didn't simply embrace the American ideal, they lived it; they embodied it. The courage, the hope, and yes, the idealism - that fundamental American belief that we could leave this world a little better than before."
Ex-SEALs, online gaming maven among Benghazi dead
[Updated at 2:45 p.m. ET] At a ceremony for the returned bodies of the four Americans killed at the Benghazi consulate, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said:
"Today we bring home four Americans who gave their lives for our country and our values. To the families of our fallen colleagues, I offer our most heartfelt condolences and deepest gratitude."
She saluted Sean Smith, a computer expert, as someone known as "an expert on technology by colleagues in Pretoria, Baghdad, Montreal and The Hague."
She hailed ex-Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods as someone who protected diplomatic personnel since 2010 "in dangerous posts" around the world.
"He had the hands of a healer as well as the arms of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic," Clinton said of Woods.
Clinton also hailed the other ex-Navy SEAL, Glen Doherty. "He, too, died as he lived, serving his country and protecting his colleagues."
Clinton said Stevens, as a diplomat, "won friends for the United States in far-flung places.” She thanked his parents, who were at the ceremony, for the "gift" that Stevens was.
The ceremony was at a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
[Updated at 2:35 p.m. ET] The ceremony for the returned bodies of the four Americans killed at the Benghazi consulate has begun. A prayer is being offered. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak soon, followed by Obama.
[Updated at 2:31 p.m. ET] Marines at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland are removing from a plane the flag-draped caskets of four Americans killed in the consulate attack in Libya, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The caskets will be placed at a hangar nearby, and President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give remarks.
[Updated at 2:28 p.m. ET] We're awaiting a ceremony at which U.S. President Barack Obama will honor the arrival of the bodies of of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Penetta have entered the hangar where the ceremony will take place at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
[Updated at 2:22 p.m. ET] Marines will take the caskets off a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give remarks. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will also be present, Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
People are seated at a facility on the base. The caskets will flank the podium from which Obama and Clinton will speak.
[Updated at 1:41 p.m. ET] Three people were killed and 28 wounded during protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Tunis on Friday, Tunisia state television reported.
[Updated at 1:23 p.m. ET] U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at this afternoon's "transfer of remains ceremony" marking the return of the remains of the four Americans killed this week in Benghazi, Libya.
Obama and Clinton will deliver brief remarks at the 2:15 p.m. ET ceremony at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
[Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET] Here is video from today's protests in Khartoum, Sudan:
[Updated at 12:23 p.m. ET] Nigerian military and police fired shots to disperse a crowd of protesters in the city of Jos, an eyewitness said.
About 2,000 people protesting the anti-Islamic film gathered at a central mosque, and security forces intervened when the crowd started moving toward the city center.
[Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET] Some protesters who scaled the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, reached a garden outside the building but have not breached the building itself, journalist Zeid Mhirsi reports.
Also, the thick, black smoke that we previously reported was near the Embassy is coming from burning vehicles on the Embassy grounds, Mhirsi reported.
Earlier, he reported that protesters took down a U.S. flag from a pole at the Embassy and replaced it with a black flag. Police were firing tear gas in an attempt to disperse them. (See 10:20 and 10:42 a.m. entries.) Hard-line Muslims known as Salafists were among the demonstrators, Mhirsi reported.
[Updated at 12:06 p.m. ET] Some Friday protests that hadn't yet been mentioned in this blog post:
- In Afghanistan, hundreds of demonstrators in the eastern Nangarhar province burned a U.S. flag and chanted "Death to America" and "We condemn the film." The demonstration lasted about an hour and ended peacefully, a local official said. The Afghan government has ordered an indefinite block of YouTube to prevent people there from watching the clips and staging violent protests.
- In Baghdad, Iraq, hundreds of followers of the radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chanted "No to America, no to Israel."
- In Jerusalem, Palestinians marched from the al-Aqsa mosque toward the U.S. Consulate, but were prevented from reaching the mission by Israeli riot forces.
- In Syria, hundreds gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Damascus. Protesters waved placards that condemned the film and blamed the U.S. administration for allowing the production and broadcast of it, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
- In Iran, the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council called for nationwide rallies Friday to protest the film and what it is calling a U.S.-backed plot against Muslims, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
[Updated at 11:57 a.m. ET] An update on Friday's protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan: Journalist Isma'il Kushkush says no protesters have been able to get inside the compound, and that police and security forces appear to have the situation under control.
Small fires are burning nearby. Kushkush said he believes protesters set tires ablaze. For more on the Khartoum protests, including one at the German Embassy there, see the 9:54 and 8:42 a.m. entries.
[Updated at 11:52 a.m. ET] Ninety-three protesters have been arrested in Egypt since Thursday night, Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud said. Forty-eight officers have been injured, he added.
[Updated at 11:40 a.m. ET] Protesters in southern India have been arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, the city police commissioner said. As many as 200 protesters were demonstrating in front of the building, but the number arrested was not reported. There were no reported injuries.
[Updated at 10:57 a.m. ET] Video from Tunisia's capital shows thick, black smoke rising from an area near the U.S. Embassy. It's not clear what was on fire.
Protesters there had taken down a U.S. flag from the embassy property and replaced it with a black flag, journalist Zeid Mhirsi reported. Police fired tear gas at protesters as some of them climbed the property's walls.
[Updated at 10:42 a.m. ET] Protesters have taken down a U.S. flag from a pole at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and replaced it with a black flag, journalist Zeid Mhirsi reports.
Earlier, Mhirsi reported protesters were climbing the building's gates, and police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse them. (See 10:20 a.m. entry.) Hard-line Muslims known as Salafists were among the demonstrators, Mhirsi reported.
[Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET] A U.S. Marine Corps security team is being sent to help protect U.S. diplomatic installations in Yemen, including the Embassy in Saana, a senior U.S. official said, according to CNN's Barbara Starr.
Earlier today, Yemeni police opened fire to stop protesters from reaching the U.S. Embassy in Saana, witnesses said (see 7:31 a.m. entry).
The protection team is similar to the team of 50 Marines that was sent earlier this this week to Tripoli, Libya, in the wake of the attack in Benghazi.
[Updated at 10:20 a.m. ET] Protesters are climbing the gates of the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and police have fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, journalist Zeid Mhirsi reports.
Some protesters, who are about 20 meters outside the U.S. Embassy gates, are throwing rocks at the police, Mhirsi says. He says
that some protesters are waving black flags as they attempt to vandalize the gates.
[Updated at 10:15 a.m. ET] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to receive the remains of the U.S. diplomats killed in Libya at Andrews Air Force Base at 2 p.m. ET Friday.
[Updated at 10:13 a.m. ET] Add Tunisia to the list of Friday's protests. Hundreds of protesters have left Friday prayers and are heading to the U.S. Embassy in a neighborhood in Tunis, journalist Zeid Mhirsi reported. There is a strong Tunisian police presence in the area.
Hard-line Muslims known as Salafists were among the demonstrators, who were in pickup trucks and on foot.
[Updated at 9:54 a.m. ET] Ron Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, said that because Friday is a non-work day, most of the staff and Embassy personnel are not there as protesters gather outside the building. As far as security goes, Marines are assigned there, and local police officers were sent there earlier Friday as a precautionary measure, Hawkins said.
Earlier Friday, a fire was set at the vacated German Embassy as protesters gathered there. The protest at the U.S. building so has been peaceful, journalist Isma'il Kamal Kushkush said (see 8:42 a.m. entry).
[Updated at 9:31 a.m. ET] More information from Khartoum, Sudan: Protesters have gathered outside the U.S. Embassy there, a journalist at the scene said. The demonstration is peaceful so far.
Earlier today, protesters in Khartoum set the German Embassy on fire and also rallied outside the nearby UK Embassy (see 8:42 a.m. entry). The German Embassy was vacated before the protests.
[Updated at 9:24 a.m. ET] Lebanon has joined the list of Friday protests. One person was killed by police in Tripoli, Lebanon, after a group of armed men stormed a KFC restaurant amid protests in the city, Lebanese security forces told CNN.
About 40 armed men were spotted among 3,000 protesters, officials said.
Gen. Bassam Ayoubi, of the Lebanese internal security forces, said a group of armed men stormed the KFC and asked people to leave. Ayoubi said that the armed men then set the KFC on fire, at which time police arrived and began to fire at the armed men, killing at least one of them. Twenty-five were injured, he said, but it wasn't clear which of the injured were on which side.
[Updated at 9:09 a.m. ET] The German Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, was vacated before the protest that reportedly has set the building on fire, the German Foreign Ministry said.
The German Foreign Ministry also said that the Sudanese ambassador to Germany has been called in to the German
Foreign Ministry in Berlin to discuss the situation in Khartoum.
Journalist Isma'il Kamal Kushkush told CNN about 30 minutes ago that the German Embassy in Khartoum was on fire after protests against the online anti-Islam video.
[Updated at 9 a.m. ET] An update on protests in Egypt, while we await more information about the burning German Embassy in Sudan:
Fifteen protesters have been injured in Egypt on Friday, according to Dr. Mohamed Sultan, a health ministry spokesman. Most of the injuries were related to inhaling tear gas or getting it into their eyes.
Two hundred twenty-four people have been injured this week in protests in Cairo, 11 of whom have been hospitalized, Sultan said.
On Friday, officers armed with shields and batons, backed by an armored personnel carrier, rushed a group of several hundred protesters shortly after dawn to quell a violent demonstration that had raged through the night in Cairo. After the rush, a smaller number of demonstrators regrouped near the U.S. Embassy across from police lines, and stones and tear-gas canisters once again crossed in the air. Police fired rubber bullets at protesters. The army began constructing a wall of concrete blocks about 10 feet high across the road leading to the embassy.
Hours later, in the afternoon, youths climbed the newly built wall and threw rocks at police, according to eyewitnesses. Security forces fired tear gas and used water cannons to hold off the rioters. But 100 to 200 hundred meters away in Tahrir Square, a few thousand protesters congregated peacefully.
[Updated at 8:42 a.m. ET] The German Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan was on fire Friday after protests against the online anti-Islam video, a journalist on the scene, Isma'il Kamal Kushkush, said. No embassy personnel were believed to be inside.
The UK Foreign Office also says protesters were demonstrating Friday outside its embassy, next to the German Embassy, in Khartoum.
[Updated at 8:35 a.m. ET] U.S. embassies aren't the only Western diplomatic posts facing protests on Friday. Protests have been reported outside the UK and German embassies in Khartoum, Sudan.
UK Foreign Office Spokesperson Mandy Heffield confirmed there is an ongoing demonstration outside the British Embassy in Khartoum. Sudanese police are on the scene, Heffield said.
Earlier, a journalist on the scene said thousands of protesters had marched on the German Embassy in Khartoum, and that a few protesters jumped onto the embassy grounds and pulled down the German flag. Riot police fired tear gas, causing the protesters to pull back, the journalist said.
[Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET] Thousands of protesters marched on the German Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, on Friday, as protests against a short online film mocking the Prophet Mohammed swept across the Muslim world, a journalist on the scene said.
A few demonstrators were able to jump into the embassy grounds and pull down the German flag, Isma'il Kamal Kushkush said. Riot police fired tear gas, causing the protesters to pull back. The German Embassy is next to the British Embassy, which did not seem to be the focus of the demonstration.
[Updated at 7:40 a.m. ET] Afghanistan saw its first anti-American protest over the film Friday, as hundreds of demonstrators burned a U.S. flag and chanted "Death to America" and "We condemn the film."
The demonstration in Nangarhar province lasted about an hour and ended peacefully, said Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of the eastern province.
[Posted 7:31 a.m. ET] Yemeni police opened fire Friday to stop protesters from reaching the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, witnesses told CNN.
Meanwhile, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood canceled nationwide demonstrations Friday, except for one in Cairo's Tahrir Square against the controversial film about the Prophet Mohammed, the group said in a Twitter message.
Could the media just stop blaming this on some stupid film and call it for what it is. They hate us for not believing what they believe, and for that we should die. There is no other reason, it can be this film or burning Qurans, or drawing cartoons..... quit making excuses for their behavior.
They hate us for constantly having no respect. I hate us too for the making of this movie that was made only to cause this sort of trouble and get Americans killed. Hold the film-maker responsible for his actions.
Quick obama issue an apology
Quick, Romney, condemn the US again.
Obama is like a flat tire: Black and useless.
John McCain as President is looking really good right now. Shame on the USA for electing Barry.
Obama said your mama should do that.
If you dont think we all should be apologizing for this stupid movie then you are condemned to see th efal of your precious country and the freedom which we all hold so dear. The movie was made to create a reaction such as this. That is criminal. If Julian Assange is supposedly able to go to death row for sabotaging American safety, then all citizens have a responsibility to answer for their actions. If the man who made this movie can't be prosecuted, then ban him from this country and let him see what it's like when you can't hide in Los Angeles, abusing American freedoms to the detriment and death of Americans worldwide.
I APOLOGIZE for the sacriligious treatment of the beliefs of others and hope that the man and the actors who made this movie meet a just deserve.
no if you are going to do it BriSoFla, it's this one. ):)
I don't understand. Why Germany? They have been very kind to the Muslim population, giving refugees access, trying to embrace diversity. Is it just because they are white? Does anyone know why they would protest outside the German embassy?
It's Western culture in general that has to be destroyed for some unknown guys b-movie.
From what I understand, it would never rate a "B". 🙂
But thank you, USAMare, that makes a little more sense.
It makes no difference to them. They see the western world as a unified society. If a man in Italy burns the Quran, then the entire western world is to blame.
Because Germany is a colony of the idiotic US Government: US has 268 military bases in Germany.
Islam is a religion of hate, death, and violence. Correct that. Religion implies some degree of benevolence and goodwill toward others, which Islam lacks. The Koran is a rambling diatribe against unbelievers, about how they should be subjected, and killed if they resist. Muslims will never be appeased until all "infidels" convert to Islam or are dead. There is no bargaining or compromise with these people. They love death like a normal person would enjoy life.
"Religion implies some degree of benevolence and goodwill toward others..." No, it does not.
what can we do with them, engaging or killing.
I guess, we can move all Jewish people out of middle east and then totally isolate the entire area with non-fly zone, cutting down all economic exchange. Let all Muslim people alone on themselves.
Amazing how many "experts" on Islam there are in America. They study the Koran at Rupert Murdoch University.
No one blows up a KFC in my town! Aim for the mop top! Roast 'em!
Religion at it's best. Mass murder and outrage over myth and fantasy. All of this for a patch of dirt on a insignificant floating rock in a vast universe. When does it end?
Well, I certainly hope they do not take over the world. I, for one, would not like to be reborn a Muslim.
Time to make a change in our leadership. It has just been a disaster. They really have no clue what they have created supporting the Muslim Brotherhood into power. That mistake will be a huge one in the years to come.
Our leadership supported the creation of a democracy. The people of Eygpt elected the Muslim brotherhood. Why blame the US for what they are doing. That makes you an "apologist."
Of course our "leadership" is evil. That is because we should NOT HAVE "leaders". Sheep have "leaders". Follow your Romney/Obama "leader" sheep, right off the cliff. Or, occupy the white house & capitol to give power to the people.
You are 100% correct that our "leaders" brought Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt and they also fund the Egyptian, Israeli, Libyan, Tunisian, Sudanese militaries. Our gov't is the main problem but they get away with it because the media creates the brainwashed zombies you see commenting here everyday.
Why aren't the U.S. embassy security personnel killing the protesters once they step on U.S. grounds? Why are we being such wussies? Kill them all.
Because the idiots in the White House do not allow our security forces over there to use live ammunition.
Because the US/Israel axis planned this: "the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and "lockdown", under which movement is severely restricted."
“We have penetrated Egypt in many areas, including the political, security, economic, and military spheres. We have succeeded in promoting sectarian and social tension there so as to create a permanent atmosphere of turmoil, in order to deepen the discord between Egyptian society and the government and make it difficult for any regime following that of Hosni Mubarak to alleviate this discord.” ISRAELI General Amos Yedlin
source: Veterans Today Military & Foreign Affairs Journal
Mr. Dahl, you are blaming the Jews and quoting the Jews at the same time. You undermine yourself within two paragraphs.
The press would rather hound Mitt Romney then ask Obama the tough questions regarding the Libya consulate attack. These are the questions I would ask Obama if I was a REAL journalist unlike the Obama lover journalists.
1. President Obama, why did you continue to go to Las Vegas and Colorado campaigning when our sovereign territories in Libya was attacked?
2. President Obama, how is it that our ambassador to Libya was at a consulate called a temporary facility without any marine protection, especially on the 11th anniversary of 9/11?
3. President Obama, did you have and intelligence of any possible terrorist activity in that region leading up to the 9/11 anniversary?
4. President Obama, will you now be attending more of your daily intelligence briefings now with all of these new uprisings around the world?
5. President Obama, why are you going to the David Letterman show next Tuesday when radical groups are surrounding our US embassies across the world?
Can you imagine how the press would be ALL OVER Bush if he behaved like Obama during this international crisis?
President Obama: Why do we borrow money from China to turnaround and give it to countries that hate us?
Agree. Where are the hard questions??? Liberal media is giving him a huge break... Complete disregard...his election is the ONLY thing on Obama's mind. Not world peace. He would hate to condemn a religion or its zealots because it may cost him precious votes... Pathetic leadership!!
Never in my life have I witnessed such a group of people so easily butthurt over the most idiotic of things. I weep for our species.
Well, at last someone recognizes that we are at least all the same species.
All of us must be killed because of one guy voice dubbing a bad film. I could do the same with a copy of Gone with the Wind. I suppose the only thing wrong here is that we're constantly amazed at how ignorant and violent those people are.
To all our political elite....... Wake up and smell the global jihad. Park the diplomacy jet junkets, dispence with the sweet rhetoric and photo ops and admit to the American people that even if Al-Qaeda were completely vanquished today there still would be a large body minority to attack the West with or without an excuse. And this minority would be cheered on by many Muslims in the "moderate middle".
How much of the world do you think we should abandon to them, Mr. Geheran?
This "rage" has noting to do with a youtube video and everything to do with a policy of appeasement that has made our enemies stronger and our friends know they can't count on us for anything because we have president and administration that is weak and clueless as to how to keep America strong and safe!
I agree with Anna, but this is not a problem of one party vs. other. This will require a white democratic leader that doesn't have to deal with racism and doesn't represent hate. Can we get Bill Clinton or Ronald Regan back?
Whats the Romney LDS response to all this? Oh, its always the same, "Obama's fault!"
Do the research!!!
He is backing the Muslim Brotherhood. They are in power in Eygpt and soon will be in power in Libya. WIth all these attacks our be coordinated you fool. This is there chance for one united Extrimest Muslim front. Not all Muslims want this but the groups that do are using this as there best op to take over.
and how is that different than "it's all Bush's fault" exactly?? god you guys are truly pathetic