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Protesters at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, on 9/11/12. They tore down the American Flag and tried to raise a black flag with the words “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger.”
(by Tamim Elyan and Edmund Blair, Reuters News Agency) CAIRO – Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and pulled down the American flag during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad, witnesses said.
In place of the U.S. flag, the protesters tried to raise the black Islamic flag inscribed with the Muslim profession of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger,” a Reuters reporter said.
Once the U.S. flag was hauled down, protesters tore it up, with some showing off small pieces to television cameras. Then others burned remains.
Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet to be offensive.
“This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made … This is a disgrace,” said 19-year-old, Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called “ultras” soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year.
Mahmoud called on President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt’s first civilian president and an Islamist, to take action. Many others were supporters of Islamist groups.
About 20 people stood on top of the embassy wall in central Cairo, where about 2,000 protesters had gathered.
“There is no god but Allah, Mohammad is Allah’s messenger. We will sacrifice ourselves for you, Allah’s messenger,” they chanted, with many waving religious flags.
A U.S. embassy official had no immediate comment on the protesters’ actions but the embassy had put out a statement earlier on Tuesday condemning those who hurt the religious feelings of Muslims or followers of any other religions.
“We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others,” the U.S. embassy said in its statement.
Protestors spray painted slogans on the embassy wall, including “If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action.”
The U.S. has a large embassy in Egypt, partly because of a huge aid program that followed Egypt’s signing of a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The U.S. gives $1.3 billion to Egypt’s military each year and offers the nation other aid.
One slogan scrawled on the walls of the embassy, a fortress-like structure that is near Tahrir Square where Egyptians revolted against Mubarak, said: “If your freedom of speech has no limits, may you accept our freedom of action.”
An Egyptian state website carried a statement by Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox church condemning what it said were moves by some Copts living abroad “to finance the production of a film insulting Prophet Mohammad”.
About a 10th of Egypt’s 83 million people are Christians.
It was not immediately clear which film angered protesters. …
“Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy,” the U.S. embassy statement said, adding that it condemned the efforts by “misguided individuals” to hurt the feelings of Muslims.
In another incident prompted by similar sentiments last month, a lone man attacked the German embassy in Cairo with homemade nail bombs and a hammer with which he cracked glass at the entrance, following a report about a protest in Germany where demonstrators bore caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed outside a mosque.
No one was injured and there was no serious damage in that incident.
When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Egypt in July, after President Mursi was sworn in, her motorcade was pelted with tomatoes.
(Reporting by Tamim Elyan and Reuters correspondents; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alison Williams)
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from Thomson Reuters. Visit the website at Reuters.com.
Update: from The Telegraph 9/12/12:
The US ambassador to Libya and three other embassy staff have been reported killed [yesterday, 9/11] by an armed Islamist mob that stormed and set fire to the United States consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
The death of the US ambassador, Christopher Stevens, was reported by Reuters, who had spoken to a Libyan official. It had not been confirmed.
It was not clear if the ambassador was in his car or the Libyan consulate when the attack occurred. “The Libyan ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets at them,” the official in Benghazi told Reuters.
The mobs involved in both [Egypt and Libya’s] embassy attacks were mainly comprised of Salafis, followers of an ultra-traditionalist approach to Islam that has spread across North Africa as well as much of the rest of the Arab world from Saudi Arabia in recent years.
Although they were not the prime movers in the “Arab Spring” protests, they have become much more visible in countries like Libya where secular dictators have been overthrown.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, said: “I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
Questions
1. What reason did Egyptians give for protesting at the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11?
2. Approximately how many protesters were at the embassy?
3. What did the protesters do during the protest at the U.S. embassy? Be specific.
4. What demands did the protesters make?
5. How did the U.S. embassy respond to the protests? Be specific.
6. What do you think of the official U.S. response to the protests?
7. Read the “Background” below the questions. For what reason does Reuters say the Obama administration is going to give Egypt $1.2 billion in debt relief (in addition to the $1 billion plus we already give them each year)?
8. a) What do you think of our foreign policy toward Egypt – in the long run will it improve our relations with the people of that country?
b) Ask a parent the same question. Discuss your answers.
9. a) Re-read the “Background” below the questions. What do you think of the Obama administration’s relationship with Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu?
b) Ask a parent the same question. Discuss your answers.
Background
Other news from Egypt, from a 9/4/12 Reuters report:
“U.S. nears deal for $1 billion in Egypt debt relief”:
“The Obama administration is close to a deal with Egypt’s new government [to give Egypt] $1 billion in debt relief. … It appears to reflect…a desire to show economic goodwill to help keep the longstanding U.S.-Egyptian partnership from deteriorating further. The U.S. was a close ally of Egypt under ousted President Hosni Mubarak and gives $1.3 billion in military aid a year to Egypt plus other assistance. Washington, long wary of Islamists, shifted policy last year under the Obama administration to open formal contacts with the [Islamist] Muslim Brotherhood, the group behind Egyptian President Mursi’s win. Mursi formally resigned from the group after his victory.
Analysts say that one way the United States could influence the direction of policy in Egypt, a nation at the heart of Washington’s regional policy since a peace treaty was signed with Israel in 1979, would be through economic support as Cairo tries to stave off a balance of payments and budget crisis.
Other U.S. / Middle East news on 9/11/12:
President Obama declined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request on Tuesday, Sept. 11 to meet during a UN conference in New York at the end of the month.
The prime minister’s office sent the White House a message stating that although Netanyahu will be in the U.S. for less than 3 days, he is willing to travel to the U.S. capital to meet with President Obama. The White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama’s schedule does not allow for a meeting. This is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting the president. (from haaretz.com)
Many of the protesters support Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is an Islamist. An Islamist is: a supporter or advocate of Islamic fundamentalism (from thefreedictionary.com)
Islamism is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is “as much a political ideology as a religion.” Leading Islamist thinkers emphasize the enforcement of Sharia (Islamic law); of pan-Islamic* political unity; and of the elimination of non-Muslim, particularly Western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world, which they believe to be incompatible with Islam. (from wikipedia)
*Pan-Islamism is a form of religious nationalism; it is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state – often a Caliphate – or an international organization similar to a European Union with Islamic principles.
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