BEIRUT ? More than a dozen countries in the Muslim world rocked by protests linked to a controversial anti-Islam movie in recent days were relatively calm Saturday, but protests flared up far away from the region in Australia.
In Cairo, the initial scene of the violent protests, where demonstrators repeatedly clashed with riot police since last Tuesday, the government appeared to be taking decisive steps to end the unrest. Tuesday also saw an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
American outposts in the Middle East are watching for new demonstrations over a movie that ridicules the prophet Muhammad. Protests have occurred in at least 10 nations since the first disturbances on Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
Muslim protests around the world
Hundreds of Egyptian security forces, some of them in plainclothes, pushed protestors out of Tahrir Square and made arrests Saturday morning, witnesses said. Security forces even tore down a massive image of the ?Blind Sheikh? Omar Abdel Rahman, in U.S. prison for involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, that was put up by Salafist protesters shortly after the 2011 revolution.
The actions of the security forces were one of the first signs that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi may be taking more concrete steps to tamp down protests since pressure has ramped up from the U.S. government in recent days.
By midafternoon Saturday, dozens of armored security vehicles guarded the streets around Tahrir Square, and roads were covered in deep puddles created by water cannons.
An encampment of protesters close to the U.S. Embassy was allowed to remain, although they had to hunker down under a choking cloud of teargas that lingered hours after the square had been otherwise cleared of protesters.
In Washington on Friday, President Obama made formal a previously announced decision to dispatch U.S. Marine quick-response teams to Libya and Yemen. In a letter to Congress, Obama said that the security forces from the U.S. Africa Command ?are equipped for combat,? although their purpose would solely be to protect U.S. citizens and property.
Officials had planned to send a third team to Sudan, but that country rejected the entry request Saturday, according to a Reuters report.
?Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum, and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps,? Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the state news agency, SUNA.
In Yemen, the parliament called Saturday for the removal of the U.S. Marine team. ?The Parliament does not accept any foreign presence on the Republic of Yemen soil, small or big and under any excuse. It demands the departure of these forces, particularly the Marine unit which has reportedly arrived recently,? said a statement issued by the parliamentarians, according to the state Saba news agency.
The parliament previously demanded an apology from the U.S. government for the controversial film but also condemned the attack on the embassy. Hundreds of people also joined a funeral march in Sanaa on Saturday for a protester killed during the attack on the U.S. Embassy.
According to a Reuters report, the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda urged Muslims on Saturday to step up protests and kill U.S. diplomats in Muslim countries over the film, which Muslims say denigrates the prophet Muhammad, and which al Qaeda called another chapter in the ?crusader wars? against Islam.�
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=94011ac7b610b2b4d6c9a0b25d576642
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