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.
I think all of these riots were premeditated by Al Qaida, and they are behind all of them in all of these countries. Who knows, maybe they are behind this video, too.
As a genuine question to those who know this is not over a film, what would inspire this hatred? As much as it comforts some to think, they are human beings, who in turn are gifted with logic. What event(s) could have made this hatred fest logical to them? What is it they believe America has done (not the film) where they would leave work and spend much energy attacking this? (Humans are quite lazy, it must have taken SOMETHING to get them this feisty). Just trying to get into the mind of the supposed "enemy".
You answered your own question!! You said " they are human beings, who in turn are gifted with logic". Well.....no they are not. Just maybe they're human............but Islam has stripped them of any LOGIC!! Hahahahahahahahahaha
Maybe they had lots of coffee or Mountain Dew as a pick-me-up. I know I'm usually drewsy until I get at least 2 or 3 sodas in me each mornin.
I'd say it is because they see American values being mainly about money and illicit behavior and don't want those values seeping into their culture where they want it to be more religious and based off the Koran. They think we are imposing and trying to force the culture of materialism and self indulgence on them.
Some are just violent people taking advantage of the situation for added chaos.
I just think understanding this from an objective point of view, without opinion of either side, is important to understand the issue as a whole...that's all. And yes, humans naturally have logic so something must have happened in which they logically find this an appropriate reaction. Every action as an equal and opposite reaction.
Hardee's too!!!! Oh...now they done it!!!
And KFC. They destroyed the only decent food in their country. That was real smart.
Here's a partial list of areas where they are rioting: Tunis, India, Tripoli, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Yemen. I look for it to spread to any/all Muslim countries by month's end. As Sam Harris said, it is only the Muslim community that becomes so inflamed that they do this. Others can get offended (often by Muslims) but no one else does this type of violence. And everyone is so afraid of offending them. Well, I WAS OFFENDED WHEN THEY FLEW PLANES INTO BUILDINGS ON 9/11! Weren't YOU? But we didn't protest and kill everyone. I was offended when they killed the 1972 Olympic athletes. I was offended when they blew up the plane over Lockerbee Scotland. I was offended when they blew up the USS Cole. When they drug our soldiers bodies through the streets in Somalia. ETC
So true.
I was just as offended, but didn't have the urge to burn or kill things... We are just a better people, civilized and respectful. I think it is complete crap we are appologizing as a country for one mans opinion. I want an appology from every Muslim country for the countless horros we read about everyday!
don't be angry because you don't take religion as serious as others. and the fact that you claim that Muslims flew planes into the towers is the only thing that stands out to you makes me wonder how so many stupid people are around me today.
Good point, but we're an apathetic nation. We're comfortable, and protesting in the middle of a weekday is just too time consuming when you've got a job that pays the bills.
We knew we had a military that would go kill people for us and we wouldn't have to get our hands dirty or stop our normal daily routine.
Correction, we did kill innocent people! But no need for details. My beef with this whole situation is this, "Most" of the muslim community has and will continue to see anyone whom is does not follow the muslim faith to be that of an infidel. Yet if we show any negativity towards the muslim faith we get backlash, so they can dish it but they can't take it. My message to those rioting, stop killing people because of their faith or lake of! My god would not condone this, so are you saying yours does!
All Americans should go watch this stupid film…. It gives a good glimpse into just how high a mentality these people have. There’s more intellect on a kindergarten playground.
Animals, nothing more than slightly evolved apes….
Don't you know that evolution is a lie. God made them this way 🙂
When will humanity begin acting like grownups and ditch the supernatural hocus-pocus religious baloney? When we can all fully assume the responsibility of our own actions and live caring and kind lives without needing the unrelenting threat of eternal damnation or the carrot-on-a-stick reward of "everlasting life" then we will have greatly progressed as a rational and moral species. Until then we are merely babies believing in fairy tales handed down to us by clueless bronze-age desert nomads, fairy tales that are today used by hypocritical charlatans seeking to control our actions for their own benefit. I can only hope that within my lifetime this type of pandering activity is universally accepted for what it is, ignorant silliness that has done nothing but hamper the human race.
I love this comment. I totally agree with you. We need to start have reasonable and rational discussions and actions put into place. There is not a need for religion anymore as it is just a catalyst to fear, hate and violence.
you choosse not to believe. you have presuppositions that cause you to discount the truth.
I agree, but it will not end. It is the nature of some who depend on deities to save them because they have no self control/discipline of their own.
Well said, couln't agree more.
Agreed.
ER, you are crazy..we need God more than ever. Our country was founded on Biblical Principals and its time we get back to them. Its not about hate its about love. God loves everyone but not their ways. Hate the sin not the sinner.
ERGE: I have no presuppositions. I believe what I can see with my own eyes. It is you who is presupposing that what you are being told is the truth.
no religion=chaos
@StanleyKubrick: It is all of the myriad religious beliefs that are creating chaos and dividing the human race.
Western civilization was built on Christian ideals. There is absolutely no refuting this. When holding ourselves up as examples of reason and morality, you cannot take Christianity out of the discussion.
@ ERGE: You are mistaken, this country was specifically founded on the principle that religion has no place within our government. If you did your homework, you'd find that most of the founding fathers were outright agnostics, and some even atheistic in their personal correspondences.
The founding fathers, most of whom were Christians, insisted on freedom of religion and the separation of the church and state, not to reduce the role of religion in people's lives, but to increase it.
@ Jacob: I disagree completely. Western civilization aside, morality is a purely human creation, and I refute the premise that it is anything other than that. As Albert Einstein said: "... I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it."
@ Jacob: So let me get this straight, you're saying that the founding fathers segregated religion from government in order to increase the role of religion within our lives? Sorry, but I think you have things quite backwards....
That's fine to do. But it would be a mistake to think that religion had no role or an insignificant role in the formation of nearly every facet of Western civilization. btw, do a search for religion and founding fathers, or even religious quotes by founding fathers and you'll see that most of them had strong Christian beliefs.
yes, they did. The separation of Church and State was implemented so that the government could not favor one religion and persecute others and Puritanism was persecuted by the British monarchy. The separation of Church and State was implemented so that ALL religions will have a chance to thrive. That is why we, now, have such tolerance for other religions here in the U.S... well, much more tolerance than most, if not all other parts of the world.
it would be nice for them to stand up and say, "Stop. This does not represent America; it is the irrational belief of a single individual". They ask that we not paint all Muslims with the same stroke of the brush. I am waiting for that sentiment to be returned.
Those who are causing damage and harming others need to be hunted down and their families all harmed and property destroyed. That is the only thing they understand. Set their homes and families, the women and children, on fire and they will stop. They do it to themselves in their own governments we should do it to them.
Well, in all religions there are zealots but blowing up abortion clinics is sort of a Christian thing not to pick on them but some groups are almost as bad as the Taliban. Not the nice god fearing decent ones.
This movie was SECRETLY FUNDED BY IRAN to BUILD SUPPORT AGAINST the USA in the dawn of an Isreali attack against the NUCLEAR PLANT. It is a strategic move to assure full support of the Islamic states against the West in the event of an attack. Iran has prepared this invoke the DRUMS OF WAR in the Muslim world.
I am a 72 year old little lady and I must say I am getting tired of the s*i*. Do something AMERICA
This is so IGNORANT! So i guess if someone from Egypt spits at the Pope, we should not buy oil from the middle east? Thats screwed up illogical and pathetic.
Tolerance........Tolerance Everywhere!
II hope they all come down with swine flu or some protestor accidentally drops a grenade and it goes off in the crowd. I laugh at all these pictures
I demand to know why the marines and security were told not to have ammunition in their guns. Who ordered them to be defenseless that day??????
The State Department