Fury over film that ridicules Islam hits Indonesia

The attacks yesterday were the latest in a week-long wave of violence sparked by the low-budget film, which portrays Islam’s Prophet Mohammed as a fraud, a womaniser and a child molester. Many of the protests have targeted US diplomatic posts throughout the Muslim world, including one that killed the US ambassador to Libya, forcing Washington to ramp up security in select countries.

Protesters have directed their anger at the US government even though the film was privately produced and American officials have criticised it for intentionally offending Muslims.

Several hundred demonstrators in Pakistan’s north-west clashed with police after setting fire to a Press club and a government building. They apparently attacked the Press club in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Upper Dir district because they were angry their rally was not getting more coverage.

Police charged the crowd, beating protesters back with batons, and the demonstrators then attacked the office of a senior government official and surrounded a local police station.

One protester died when police and demonstrators exchanged fire and several others were wounded.

The violence came a day after hundreds of protesters clashed with police when they tried to storm the US Consulate in the southern city of Karachi. One protester was killed and over a dozen were wounded.

Pakistanis have also held many peaceful protests against the film.

The demonstration in Lahore was organised by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, believed to be a front for a powerful militant group blamed for attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people.

“Our war will continue until America is destroyed!” shouted some of the protesters. “Dog, dog, America is a dog!” chanted others.

The head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who has a $10m bounty on his head, addressed the crowd and demanded the Pakistani government shut down the US embassy and all consulates until the film-makers are punished.

In Afghanistan, hundreds of people burned cars and threw stones at a US military base in the capital, Kabul. Many in the crowd shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to those people who have made a film and insulted our prophet.”

Police shot into the air to hold back about crowd of about 800 protesters and to prevent them from pushing toward government buildings downtown.

Later protests broke out in other areas of Kabul, including the main road into the city, where demonstrators burned shipping containers and tyres.

The Afghan government has blocked video-sharing website YouTube to prevent viewing of a clip of the anti-Muslim film.

In Jakarta, hundreds of Indonesians angered over the film clashed with police outside the US 
Embassy, hurling rocks and firebombs and setting tyres alight, marking the first violence seen in the world’s most populous Muslim country since international outrage over the film exploded last week.

At least 10 police were rushed to hospital after being pelted with rocks and attacked with bamboo sticks. Demonstrators burned a picture of President Barack Obama and also tried to ignite a fire truck parked outside the embassy.

Protests were also held in the Indonesian cities of Medan and Bandung. Over the weekend in the central Java town of Solo, protesters stormed KFC and McDonald’s restaurants.

Access to the video has been blocked in Indonesia after the government declared it illegal, although some clips could still be viewed online yesterday. Most of the secular nation’s 210 million Muslims practise a moderate form of the religion.

The wave of international violence began last Tuesday when protesters climbed the US Embassy walls in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and tore down the American flag from a pole in the courtyard.

The US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was killed along with three other Americans, as protesters stormed the consulate in Benghazi.