An actress in an anti-Islam film that triggered violent protests across the Muslim world sued a California man linked to its production on Wednesday for fraud and slander, saying she had received death threats after the video was posted on YouTube.
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia, who also named Google Inc and its YouTube unit as defendants, asked that the film be removed from YouTube and said her right to privacy had been violated and her life endangered, among other allegations. However, Califorina judge denied her request.
It was the first known civil lawsuit connected to the making of the video.
Protests continue:
The vulgar depiction of Islam's
Prophet Muhammad in an American-made movie has angered Muslims across the
world, with many taking to the streets to rally against the film. In recent
days, the decision by a French satirical magazine to release cartoons crudely
depicting the prophet has added to the tension.
Hundreds of Pakistanis angry at
an anti-Islam film that denigrates the religion's prophet clashed with police
in the Pakistani capital Thursday, the most violent show of anger in a day that
saw smaller demonstrations in Indonesia, Iran and Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, a crowd of more than
1,000 people tried to make their way to the U.S. Embassy inside a guarded
enclave that houses embassies and government offices.
The demonstrations are expected
to grow in Pakistan on Friday, the traditional day of prayer in the Muslim
world. The Pakistani government has called a national holiday for Friday so
that people could come out and demonstrate peacefully against the film.
In Indonesia, about 50 students
from an Islamic university gathered in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi
province. They burned tires and forced a McDonald's restaurant to close. The
door was later covered with a sign saying, "This must be closed as a
symbol of our protest of the 'Innocence of Muslims' made in the U.S.,"
referring to the title of the film.
In Iran, hundreds of students and
clerics gathered outside the French embassy in Tehran to protest the
publication of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the French weekly. Protesters
chanted "Death to France" and "Down with the U.S." and
burned the flags of the United States and Israel. The demonstration ended after
two hours.
In Kabul, a few hundred people
demonstrated in the downtown area against the film, chanting ant-American
slogans before dispersing peacefully.
Violence over the amateurish
movie, "which portrays the prophet as a fraud, womanizer and child
molester, has left at least 30 people in seven countries dead", including
the American ambassador to Libya, according to AP.
AP added that the satirical
French weekly Charlie Hebdo featured several caricatures of the Prophet showing
him "naked in what the publishers said was an attempt to poke fun at the furor
over a privately-made U.S. film trailer mocking Islam and Mohammad."
In this context, France stepped
up security Wednesday at its embassies across the Muslim world.
Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were
firebombed last year, was brandishing its right to free speech. But the
publication raised concerns that France could face violent protests like the
ones targeting the United States.
For the full LBCI report, please click on the video above
REUTERS/AP