反伊斯兰电影引发穆斯林世界的抗议

Protests sparked by the anti-Islam film are continuing to spread across the entire Muslim world. In Pakistan, supporters of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party took to the streets of Peshawar to denounce the US.

A local party official says they have called for nation-wide protests to begin on Friday. Other countries in the Middle East and North Africa have also seen violence and a surge in popular anger.

The dominoes of outrage fall. Islamists in the Lebanese city of Sidon, burnt the US flag and chanted slogans, protesting a US film that depicted Islam’s Prophet in a negative light.

Sheikh Ahmed Al Assir, Islamist Salafist leader in Sidon, said, "They hate Mohammad, they hate the Quran, they hate the hijab, they hate minarets, they hate the mention of Allahu Akbar, and we are saying to them we are for you, the Messenger of God.’’

Security has been tightened at US embassies across the world. Just days after the initial protests started in Libya and Egypt, violence intensified and quickly spread to other Arab countries.

Protesters hurled stones at a police cordon around the US embassy in central Cairo after climbing into the embassy compound and tearing down the American flag.

In the tiny country of Bahrain, demonstrations broke out in the capital Manama, forcing the US embassy into lock down.

Further south on the Arabian Peninsula, hundreds of Yemenis broke through the main gate of the heavily fortified US embassy compound in the capital Sanaa. They smashed windows of security offices outside the embassy and burned cars.

Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests in Iran.

And to the east, supporters of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party flooded the streets in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, chanting anti-American slogans.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton condemned the violence, saying it was not representative of the world’s great religions.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said, "And I so strongly believe that the great religions of the world are stronger than any insults. They have withstood offence for centuries. Refraining from violence then is not a sign of weakness in one’s faith, it is absolutely the opposite. A sign that one’s faith is unshakeable."

But her words have down little to calm this rising storm. With outrage in the Islamic world showing no signs of abating, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "hateful" anti-Islam film, calling for calm and restraint in a region.