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.
Rage against the FILM continues? Why do you print such drivel. The film is just a pretext for Muslims to do what they do best. Kill and burn. Wise up CNN....
Always blame someone else.
How dare you Westerners offend our people, our way of life, and our beliefs. You have no right!
We never do anything offensive to your people!
Never have we made anti-Semitic propaganda!
Never have we burned effigies of Jesus, Rabbis, or your political leaders!
Never have we burned your flags, holy items, or revered symbols!
Never have we defaced the images of things you hold dear!
Never have we demonstrated blind, irrational hate at others who are not like us!
So how dare you make a film mocking and offending us!!!
Damn. I forgot to put that in quotes. Now it looks like I said it and meant it. lol
Think about what you just said. There are all sorts of ancient artifacts in Turkey alone were they tried to cover up and destroy Christian site. Look at israel . There as well Jewish and christian sites were destroyed. Look at Afganistan. the Taliban blew up ancient hindu artifacts
That is a joke right?
Umm... 'what ever,' that is exactly my point. They're hypocritical pieces of $#!+
I thought that was pretty clear. Are you new to sarcasm?
Didnt they pretty much do the same thing when someone drew a cartoon of muhammad
They found the movie on Face Book. The movie is really cheaply made and boring. There are a lot more entertaining things on the internet making fun of Mohammad like Mohammad chicken or Mohammad condoms. There are thousands of things on the internet they would take offense to. Why they are picking on this one dull movie makes no sense.
I think the obvious solution is to build our embassies out of Korans. Good luck burning them now!
Ingenious!!!!
Free speech/the West is incompatible with the Islamic world. That is what I see. If we can't live together in peace let us live separate in peace. The West should not give up free speech, thought, and expression for Islam. Islam is not worth it.
Islam use to have free speech , free thoughts I sure it will come back in a 100 years or so until then just stop buying gass
The acts of a few can create problems. That movie was just the scapegoat for radicals to use to have another reason to hate America. They planned this from the beginning. Good for them to express their first freedom of speech. The problem here is the ones who burns flags and destroy property. That should be condemned and the US should quit expressing where we stand. The protesters do not care about the US. They care about themselves and extreme radicals have no reason to care. There main job in the world is to create chaos! We need to tell those countries that we will not have Embassies in there countries if we do not get support and protection.
Good Point
Kuwait protests against our embassy!!?? The US kept that tiny country from being swallowed up by Saddam Hussein in the early 1990's, yet they protest against us!! Libya was helped overcome their murderous dictator, Gaddaffi, yet they kill our embassy personnel and destroy our embassy!!! Egypt was helped defeat Mubarak, yet they attacked our embassy and destroy our businesses!!! Now Iraq and India get in on the act!! Bring all the billions of hard-earned US taxpayer monies back to the US!! And give jobs to American citizens that are being shipped to India!! Enough of this foreign aid to people who kill us and want to destroy our country all because 1 person makes a video they don't like!!!
You really need to do some research on Libya and youll find out that whole thing was a lie. Gaddafi was loved by the majority of his country. The "rebels" were US financed "AlQaida" that staged all this uprising. Do a little search on Gaddafi not having a central bank and using the gold dinar. Do a search on Syria not having a central banking cartel and youll be able to connect the dots on what REALLY is going on
his "movie" that nobody has even seen is NOT what this is about. The movie is a plant to this psyop. There are either two things that is going on. Either this is "blowback" from the US funded and operated Al-Qaida that is being used by the US to stage uprisings in Libya, Syria, Egypt, and soon to be Iran. And "Al-Qaida" is turning on their American master, OR this is all an Israeli operation to sway the US elections to Romney because Obama wont do anything Netanyahu wants, so Israel is either going to force Obamas hand or put someone in office who will be an Israeli puppet
Those are pretty elaborate schemes that is pure conjecture. It may also be an uprising about a video and nothing more. The same thing happened in Afghanistan and other countries when the Florida pastor burned the Koran. And remember the Dutch cartoonist was assassinated over mockery in his cartoons.
Those are pretty elaborate schemes that is pure conjecture. The same thing happened in Afghanistan and other countries when the Florida pastor burned the Koran. And remember the Dutch cartoonist was assassinated over mockery in his cartoons.
Jhuna: You really need to stop letting the MSM and Gov feed your brain with all their lies and propaganda. Free yourself from the system and do some research. Their is a ton of factual information out there now that we are in the internet era
Um, you do relieze they did the same thing for a cartoon
There was an earlier report that said the Marines couldn't even have their weapons loaded..If that's true, it's crazy.
So Obama is downplaying that this was a terrorist attack? Even though it apparently was planned ahead of time by several people to coincide with 911. Sheesh Obama what does it take? What do we now classify as terrorism.
All the people who are talking badly about the people who are protesting and saying that they live in a 3rd world country, well there are people in the US and are Americans who are worse than the people over there...and they are not muslims...I dont care what their religion is...but people are different and react differently... and they exist everywhere.
THE MAIN PROBLEM IS WITH THE GOVERMENTS OVER THERE, ARE VERY WEAK...VERY VERY WEAK.....THIS MOVIE SHOULD BE STOPPED AND THE GOVERNMENTS THERE SHOULD BE FIRM IN NOT ALLOWING THIS CHAOS...
THE WESTERN WORLD IS NOT HELPING WITH THIS...AS USUAL....THEY LIKE TO CONVEY THINGS OF THIS NATURE AND FUEL IT MORE.....BOTTOM LINE THIS MOVIE HAS TO BE STOPPED....THERE IS NO QUESTION ABOUT THIS
How can anyone create a connection between being a Muslim and rationality?? If your Muslim: you must beleive that your greatest prophet took a flying horse like creature from Mecca to Jerusalem- the Anceint greeks had a story about a flying horse ( the Pegesis)- but something tells me that someone would have a very hard time finding a greek that still beleives that story to be true (thats why it is now a Hollywood film instead of a Sacred Ideal) – if you are under the impression that a Man has actually wrode a flying horse- dont get mad at me when i ridicoule your religion, or question your sanity!!! (please forgive misspelling- this comment posted with a certain degree of Anger- at all Muslims,Christains,Jews,and fools!
To defender: my point exackly- no matter what religion you follow (unless you atheist)- you beleive in Magic,flying horses, and all sorts of physically impossible things-
Saudi, Yeman, Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan.... What we learn? Doesn't matter where they are, doesn't matter how rich they are, doesn't matter what education they have a Muslim will not tolarate anything against Mohammad. The primitive side / fanatic side of Muslim lives on any Muslim who follows ISLAM. To bring other side of Muslim all you have to do is press the Mohammad button. No muslim will accept anything against ISLAM. It is forbidden and has death sentence. I am worried about the GRIM future if Muslims dont change their ways. DITCH ISLAM! FREE YOU MINDS MUSLIMS
Actually, how rich and educated they are matter a lot.
I've got a question. Why don't we just pull out of the middle east? Seriously! They don't want us there, we have no legitimate business there, why not just pull all our diplomats and military out and bring them home. Give these cave men what they want, our withdraw from their nations and see what happens. As far as I can tell, unless they've come up with some catapult capable of shooting a boulder some thousand odd miles, we'll be ok. They neither have the technology nor the military might to launch a direct attack on US soil. And if they resort to attacking US soil like they did on 9/11 (they meaning gov sponsored terrorists), then we show them the full might of our military without question or reservations. Until then, we will continue to see this happen. Again... THEY DON"T WANT US THERE!!
They need an excuse to keep spending as much on the military as we do. That's all I can come up with.