US missions brace for protests as Muslim anger over film spreads

NBC WORLD NEWS

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Updated at9/14/22012 -  7:25 a.m. ET: Egyptian protesters angry at a film offending the Prophet Muhammad hurled stones at police near the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Friday, as American missions across the Arab world and beyond tightened security in expectation of anti-U.S. demonstrations on the Muslim day of prayer.

"God is greatest" and "There is no god but God," one group near the front of the clashes chanted, as police in riot gear fired tear gas and threw stones back in a street leading from the fortified embassy to nearby Tahrir Square, the locus point of massive demonstrations that led to the ouster of pro-American dictator Hosni Mubarak last year.

About 300 people had gathered to protest, some waving flags with religious slogans.
The Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood said on Twitter that it was canceling its call for nationwide protests, but that it would still be present in Tahrir Square "for a symbolic protest against the movie." The Brotherhood had earlier called for a "million-man march" of protest in the capital.

Photos - PROTESTERS CLASH WITH COPS NEAR US EMBASSY

Triggered by an obscure, anti-Islam video made in the U.S. and released on the internet, angry protests by Muslims have been directed at U.S. diplomatic missions in at least 11 countries this week. Many Muslims have questioned why the U.S. authorities have not taken action against the filmmakers.