Hundreds of Yemeni demonstrators stormed the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday in protest at a film deemed blasphemous to Islam, and security guards tried to hold them off by opening fire in the air, witnesses said.
They said the demonstrators smashed windows of the security offices outside the embassy before breaking through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound in eastern Sanaa. Security guards opened fire and there were reports of casualties on both sides but no details were immediately available.
Meanwhile in Cairo, further
unrest broke out near the American Embassy early on Thursday
morning, as the fallout from a film ridiculing Islam's prophet raged
on.
Dozens of police officers were deployed, as protesters chanted in the streets and fires burned. Some demonstrators were engulfed in tear gas.
On Wednesday, some 200 demonstrators took part in protests in the Egyptian capital.
They rallied into the night chanting "leave Egypt" as they gathered outside the walls of the US Embassy compound.
There was however no repeat of the previous day's events when angry
crowds climbed the walls of the complex and tore down an American flag,
which they replaced briefly with a black, Islamist flag. Several demonstrators have demanded a US apology for the offending film and the prosecution of those behind it.
In Iraq, an Iraqi militia that carried out some of the most prominent attacks on foreigners during the Iraq war on Thursday threatened U.S. interests in the country over the anti-Islam film that has triggered protests in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere.
"The offense caused to the messenger (Prophet Mohammad) will put all American interests in danger and we will not forgive them for that," Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Asaib al-Haq militia, said.
Protests also reached Tehran
where 500 people rallied outside the Embassy of Switzerland that represents the U.S.
in Iran on Wednesday in protest of the film.
On Tuesday, US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed
when a a mob enraged by the video launched an attack on the American
Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Officials were also investigating whether
the rampage was a backlash to the anti-Islamic video or a plot to
coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. For more on this story, click
here.
President Barack Obama strongly condemned the violence.
He has vowed to bring the killers to justice and tightened security at diplomatic posts around the world.
REUTERS