protests – Page 2

Brazil: Clashes in Rio slum over death of youth

Police officers investigating the death of a teenager clashed with residents of a Rio de Janeiro slum, police said Wednesday amid a series of protests on issues ranging from alleged police brutality to low wages.

Rio police said in a statement that three buses were torched and a police car damaged in Tuesday’s clash in the sprawling Penha slum.

Police were called in to investigate the death of a 17-year-old boy, whose body was found in the neighborhood. “As the military police approached, a group of locals began a violent protest,” the statement said.

The teen, whose name was not released, went missing Monday. His body showed no bullet wounds, and the cause of death was not immediately clear, police said. But news reports suggested the protesters suspected the youth died in a confrontation with police.

Police killings are not unusual in Rio, where officers are sometimes linked to armed militias.

A demonstration was called for Wednesday in another Rio slum, Rocinha, to call for light to be shed on the disappearance of a local bricklayer who was last seen in police custody.

The protest came on the one-month anniversary of the disappearance of Amarildo de Souza, a 42-year-old father of six who was hauled into a Rocinha police station for questioning July 14. Police have said he was released shortly after, but video surveillance shows no trace of Souza after he entered the police station.

His family and supporters say they suspect he was killed by police and his body dumped in a clandestine graveyard.

Souza’s disappearance has become a hot-button issue in Rio, particularly among slum dwellers and critics of Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Sergio Cabral.

Cabral has been the target of protests since June, when a wave of mass demonstrations against government corruption and calling for improved public services swept the country. Protesters allege Cabral is corrupt and have been calling for an investigation into spending on projects linked to next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, which Brazil is hosting.

A separate demonstration was scheduled outside the Guanabara Palace later Wednesday.

Several thousand mostly university professors also marched through central Rio on Wednesday demanding higher pay and better working conditions, and people calling for improved legislation for the disabled staged a protest in the capital, Brasilia. – AP

Almost 280 dead after Egyptian police storm protestors

Egypt was under a tense state of emergency Thursday after security forces stormed the Cairo protest camps supporting ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in a bloody assault that sparked violence across the country which officials said claimed 278 lives.

The army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency, and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces after the violence on Wednesday.

Gory photographs and video images of the Cairo bloodbath dominated social media networks, as world powers called for restraint and condemned the show of force by security forces.

At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt”.

Hours after tear gas canisters first rained down on tents of protesters in the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in eastern Cairo, an AFP correspondent counted at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues there.

In a field hospital, its floors slippery with blood, doctors struggled to cope with the casualties, leaving the hopeless cases, even if still alive.

The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt. The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood spoke of 2,200 dead overall and more than 10,000 wounded.

Among those killed in Cairo was 17-year-old Asmaa al-Beltagui, daughter of wanted Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagui, a spokesman for Morsi’s movement said.

Britain’s Sky News said a veteran cameraman, Briton Mick Deane, was shot and killed while covering the assaults.

The violence prompted vice president and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei to resign, saying his conscience was troubled over the loss of life, “particularly as I believe it could have been avoided”.

“It has become too difficult to continue bearing responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear,” he said.

The state of emergency went into effect at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, with daily overnight curfews from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am.

The dramatic descent on the squares shortly after dawn came as a surprise to many. Security officials had originally spoken of gradually dispersing the sit-ins over several days.

Shortly after dawn on Wednesday, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said security forces fired tear gas before surging into Rabaa al-Adawiya, sparking pandemonium among the thousands of protesters who had set up the camp soon after Morsi was ousted in a military coup on July 3.

Men in gas masks rushed to grab each canister and dunk them in containers of water, as the main stage near the mosque of the camp blared Islamic anthems and protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

Many Morsi supporters were given safe passage out of the camp, some flashing victory signs as they left through a security corridor.

A security official told AFP that hundreds of people were taking advantage of the safe passage offer, but that some diehards had stayed behind to fight on.

By Wednesday evening, a security official said Rabaa al-Adawiya was “totally under control”, adding: “There are no more clashes”.

In the smaller of the protest camps, at Al-Nahda square in central Cairo, police said they had control of the area after two hours.

Television footage showed flattened tents, as women and children flanked by police and army troops were led out of the square.

Dozens rounded up in the dispersal were shown sitting on the ground, handcuffed and surrounded by security forces.

Authorities later said calm had been restored across the country.

Use of force widely condemned

Europe’s leading powers, along with Iran, Qatar and Turkey, strongly denounced the use of force by the interim government.

The White House said Washington, which provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in annual military aid, “strongly condemns” the violence against the protesters and opposes the imposition of a state of emergency.

Interim prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi praised the police for their “self-restraint” and said the government remained committed to an army-drafted roadmap that calls for elections in 2014.

The Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to take to the streets in their thousands to denounce the “massacre”.

“This is not an attempt to disperse, but a bloody attempt to crush all voices of opposition to the military coup,” Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said on Twitter.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said no more protests would be tolerated.

The anger against the Islamist movement was evident as residents of several neighbourhoods clashed with Morsi loyalists.

Clashes also erupted between security forces and Morsi supporters in the northern provinces of Alexandria and Beheira, the canal provinces of Suez and Ismailiya, and the central provinces of Assiut and Menya.

In Alexandria, hundreds of angry Morsi supporters marched through the streets armed with wooden clubs chanting “Morsi is my president”.

An AFP reporter said they set fire to tyres and tore down pictures of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup against Morsi.

It was a dramatic turn of events for the Muslim Brotherhood, who just over a year ago celebrated Morsi’s victory as Egypt’s first elected president.

His turbulent year in power, marred by political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis, turned many against the Islamist movement, with millions taking to the streets on June 30 to call for his removal. – AFP

Black school protesters turn on media

Pupils at New Eisleben Secondary School in Nyanga stoned a Cape Argus photographer’s vehicle on Wednesday morning during violent protests against the school’s principal.

Hundreds of pupils protested outside and inside the school premises this morning. Garbage was dumped in the school’s corridors.

Attempts at contacting the principal were unsuccessful – his office phone went unanswered.

Cindy Waxa a Cape Argus photographer, said the pupils originally welcomed her as a photographer.

However, a rumour that she was an informant for the Department of Education made the rounds and caused some of the pupils to turn on her.

As she drove away in a company car, the protesting pupils hurled stones, smashing the back windscreen of the car.

Police were on the scene mid-morning and fired a tear gas canister to disperse the pupils. The Cape Argus witnessed a number of teachers leaving the school premises, but it is understood that the principal was still in his office at the time of publication.

Bronagh Casey, spokesman for Education MEC Donald Grant, said department officials were on the scene to monitor the situation.

“We cannot confirm the reason for the protest,” she said.

“This is something that we will have to establish during the course of the day.

“The school has, however, been closed for today and we will continue to monitor the situation,” she said.

Cape Argus

Xenophobes in Limpopo ‘have criminal motive’

The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in Tshisaulu outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, where residents have been protesting for the past two days, says some protesters “have criminal motives”.

Foreign nationals started removing stocks from their shops on Monday night after a shop belonging to a foreign national was looted.

A shop owner who spoke to the SABC says the situation is no longer safe for them.

He says they will only return to their businesses when the protests end.

Sanco chairperson Aaron Netshifhefhe says residents have genuine grievances, however, the protests are being hijacked by people with criminal motives.

“Yesterday, they looted one foreigner’s shop, but what we have discovered, most of them were not Tshisaulu people. They have some people from outside, who haven’t got the interest with our people. Our people were only trying the pass the message to the police that, ‘please, come and arrest the people who are killing the people here’. We have only heard that there’s only one house burnt at Mapate. They say there are two others.”

Residents earlier blockaded the Thohoyandou-Makhado road with stones and burning tyres in a protest over the murder of a woman. 21 residents have been arrested since the protest started in the area on Sunday.

Eleven of them have been granted bail.

The executive mayor of Vhembe district municipality in Limpopo, Tshitereke Matibe, was expected to meet with the residents of Tshisaulu outside Thohoyandou in a bid to end the public protest in the area. – SABC

Tens of thousands march against government in Tunisia

by Antoine Lambroschini

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of the Tunisian capital to demand the resignation of the government as the political crisis in the north African nation deepened.

The country has been wracked by political unrest since the July 25 murder of opposition lawmaker Mohamed Brahmi and Tuesday’s protests marked the biggest anti-government demonstration since the assassination.

A police official estimated that 40,000 people crowded the streets of Tunis to call for the government led by the moderate Islamic movement Ennahda to step down. Opposition leaders cited in local media put the figure at 100,000-200,000.

Earlier on Tuesday, the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) — a body elected in 2011 to forge consensus on drafting a new constitution — was suspended.

Brahmi’s murder, as well as that of another opposition politician, Chokri Belaid, have been blamed on radical Islamists, with the Ennahda-led cabinet criticised for not doing enough to prevent them.

The demonstration attracted a mixed bag of opposition parties, ranging from extreme left to centre-right, and was timed to mark six months since Belaid was gunned down outside his home.

Protesters carried pictures of both Belaid and Brahmi and shouted slogans such as “The people want the regime to fall” and “The government will end today”.

The march passed off peacefully.

Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said the ANC’s work would be halted until the government and opposition opened negotiations to break the deadlock “in the service of Tunisia”.

Brahmi’s killing had already prompted several opposition members to boycott the ANC and its suspension was a key demand of the protesters on the street.

The stalemate showed no sign of ending, however, with the opposition refusing to hold talks with the government until it steps down and Ennahda ruling out any dialogue conditional on its ouster.

Larayedh has refused to quit, offering instead to broaden the coalition.

Ben Jaafar criticised the country’s politicians for failing to find a compromise as Tunisia also battles mounting terror threats.

“Despite the gravity of the situation and instead of working towards unity, unfortunately party leaders have gone in the opposite direction, towards division, by mobilising” street protests, he said.

Since the ANC was elected in October 2011, political leaders have failed to find a consensus on a new constitution following a revolution that ousted longtime president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

And the suspension of the assembly’s work throws into question Prime Minister Ali Larayedh’s target of the ANC adopting a new constitution and electoral law by October 23 ahead of a December 17 election.

‘Excessive demands’

Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi, quoted in La Presse newspaper on Tuesday, said the government will not step down under pressure from the street, while Larayedh charged that demonstrators were hampering efforts by security forces to root out gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda.

“There are excessive demands at protests for the dissolution of the elected government,” Ghannouchi told La Presse.

“In democratic regimes, protests don’t change governments. It’s under dictatorial regimes that a demonstration is able to topple a regime.”

Earlier Tuesday, before its work was suspended, the ANC had gathered to discuss the “terrorist crisis” as security forces pressed on with a vast operation to hunt down militants holed up in the rugged Mount Chaambi region near the Algerian border.

Speaking to the assembly, Larayedh had harsh words for the demonstrators, saying their activities meant security forces “are obliged to be in the streets when they should be participating in the battle against terrorism”.

Defence Minister Rachid Sabbagh told the ANC that the armies of Tunisia and Algeria would “reinforce their cooperation, particularly to arrest the Chaambi terrorists.”.

“We will continue our operations until all the terrorists have been killed or arrested,” said the minister.

Ghannouchi also dismissed the criticism that authorities are being soft on radical Islamists, who have grown in influence since the popular uprising that toppled Ben Ali two years ago.

“There are 500 to 600 terrorist suspects imprisoned in jails,” he noted. – AFP

Thousands in US protest Zimmerman verdict

Thousands protested in US cities overnight as President Barack Obama appealed for calm following the acquittal in Florida of a man who gunned down an unarmed black teenager.

The angry protests highlight simmering racial tensions after a jury found volunteer watchman George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering 17 year-old Trayvon Martin.

Demonstrators held noisy rallies in US cities including New York, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit and Chicago.

At least six people were arrested in Los Angeles early Monday when riot police broke up an “unlawful assembly” in Hollywood near the CNN building.

To the chants of “No justice, no peace!” a separate crowd blocked traffic on an important freeway elsewhere in the giant metropolis, local media reported.

Memories are still fresh of the deadly April 1992 riots in Los Angeles, which broke out after a similar racially-tinged trial.

The most numerous rally Sunday was in New York City, where several thousand — including families with children — marched to Times Square under the watchful eye of police.

Many in the multi-racial crowd brandished signs bearing a portrait of Martin, while some, despite sweltering July heat, wore “hoodie” sweatshirts as the teen did the night he was killed.

“I am appalled,” said Carli VanVoorhis, a 21-year-old hairdresser.

“The man was armed, the kid was not, and the man with the gun got away,” she said. “If we say it was not a racial issue, we would be lying.”

“We have a big problem with race, and another problem is guns,” said protester Rodney Rodriguez. “If Zimmerman didn’t have a gun, he couldn’t have killed Trayvon Martin.”

Fellow protester Derreck Wilson, 46, said the group had come “to say in a peaceful way why we are angry. We are angry, scared and anxious.”

“It’s cathartic,” he said.

“We all have the same desires. I want to be able to have my son to come home,” added Wilson, who came to the protest from the traditionally African-American neighborhood of Harlem.

The case has pitted those who belive that Zimmerman, a 29-year-old Hispanic neighborhood watchman, killed Martin in self-defense, and those who believe it was a murder sparked by racist assumptions.

Obama, the first black US president, urged Americans to step back and accept the trial verdict.

“We are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken,” the president said in a statement. “I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.”

Zimmerman was accused of pursuing Martin through a gated community in the town of Sanford and shooting him during an altercation on the rainy night of February 26, 2012.

The defense successfully argued that Zimmerman fired his handgun in self-defense after the teen wrestled him to the ground and was slamming his head against the pavement.

According to Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, people who fear for their lives can use deadly force to defend themselves without having to flee a confrontation.

“We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this,” Obama said. “As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”

Obama last year spoke emotionally about the case, noting that if he had a son he would “look like Trayvon.”

The racial divide was evident in Sanford pastor Valerie Houston’s Sunday sermon.

“Dr (Martin Luther) King (Jr) stated, the daily life of the Negro is still in the basement of the Great Society,” she said. “And today I state, the daily life of my people is still enslaved to a white supremacist society.”

Martin’s parents — father, Tracy, and mother Sybrina Fulton — asked the public before the verdict to respect the trial outcome, and afterwards gave thanks for the outpouring of support they received over the past year.

Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump declined to say whether they would file a civil lawsuit against Zimmerman, but said “they are going to certainly look at that as an option.”

“They deeply want a sense of justice. They deeply don’t want their son’s death to be in vain,” he told ABC News’s “This Week.”

The US Justice Department said Sunday it will resume its probe into whether hate crime charges can be brought against Zimmerman. The probe was put on hold until after the Florida trial.

Federal prosecutors “will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction,” it said in a statement.

With the acquital, Zimmerman’s lawyers told the Washington Post that they will immediately resume a defamation lawsuit against NBC News for selectively editing a phone call to police which made their client seem like a racist. That case was also put on hold pending the trial results. – AFP

Turkey blames Jews for protests

A Turkish deputy prime minister linked the “Jewish diaspora” to recent anti-government unrest, drawing condemnation from world Jewish leaders on Tuesday and concern among Turkey’s Jews the comments could make them targets of popular anger.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay’s office said his comments, made to reporters in the town of Kirikkale and published on the Cihan news agency website on Monday, were taken out of context.

Turkey was rocked by violent protests last month when a small effort to save Gezi Park in central Istanbul from redevelopment mushroomed into a mass demonstration by tens of thousands of people opposed to what they see as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

Erdogan, in power for ten years, and other officials have cited conspiracies involving “foreign circles”, an “interest-rate lobby”, foreign media and terrorists engineering the protests to undermine Turkey’s economy and political clout. Atalay’s comments pointed the finger at the ‘Jewish diaspora”.

“There are those inside and outside the country who are envious about Turkey growing too much,” said Atalay, one of four deputy prime ministers.

“They are all uniting. On the one side you have the Jewish diaspora. You have seen the foreign media’s attitude over the Gezi Park events, how quickly they bought into it and how quickly and widely they started broadcasting before any assessment was made,” he said.

In a written statement to the media on Tuesday, Atalay’s office said some of the minister’s comments had been taken out of context and had been added to, resulting in articles stating Atalay had said the Jewish diaspora was behind the protests.

“There was no such statement or assessment made by our Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay,” the statement said.

“DESPICABLE”

The World Jewish Congress said it was shocked by what it said were “despicable” and “totally baseless slurs”.

“Mr. Atalay should have the decency to apologize. His remarks are an insult not only to the Jewish people but also to the many Turkish citizens who took part in the protests and who have real grievances,” it said in a written statement.

The Turkish Jewish Community, which represents most of Turkey’s estimated 23,000 Jewish faithful, said Atalay’s remarks could lead to reprisals against its members in a mostly Muslim country of 76 million.

“We are trying to obtain information about the meaning, the scope and details of Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay’s statement about the ‘Jewish Diaspora being behind Gezi protests,'” the Turkish Jewish Community and chief rabbinate said in a joint statement on the community’s website.

“(Because) Turkish Jewish citizens, as well as other Jewish people living all around the globe, may be affected and pointed (out) as a target of such a generalization, we wish to express our concerns and share our apprehension and worry of the consequences that such perceptions can cause.”

Turkey’s Jews, most of whom trace their roots to the 15th century when their ancestors found refuge in the Ottoman Empire from the Spanish Inquisition, have in recent years faced pressure as relations between Israel and Turkey soured.

Ties between the erstwhile military allies hit a low in May 2010 when Israeli commandoes killed nine Turkish activists in storming the Mavi Marmara, a ship in a Turkish-led convoy seeking to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this year, Erdogan called Zionism “a crime against humanity”, prompting objections from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. President Barack Obama subsequently orchestrated an Israeli apology for the Mavi Marmara raid.

While at least one other member of Erdogan’s ruling party has suggested Jewish involvement in the Gezi protest, the remarks by Atalay appeared to be the first such public accusation by a senior member of the ruling AK Party, which traces its roots to a banned Islamist movement.

In a message on Twitter, the AK Party mayor of the Turkish capital Ankara, Melih Gokcek, said on June 16 the Gezi protests were a “a game of the Jewish lobby” and cited a Turkish newspaper report that a Washingon-based think tank linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group had predicted the protests earlier in the year. – Reuters

Clashes with police as Spain announces more austerity measures

spanish-protests — Spanish protest scene

Protesters clashed with police in Spain’s capital on Tuesday as the government prepares a new round of unpopular austerity measures for the 2013 budget that will be announced on Thursday.

Thousands gathered in Neptune plaza, just a few meters away from El Prado museum in central Madrid where they formed a human chain around parliament, surrounded by barricades, police trucks and more than 1,500 police in riot gear.

Police fired rubber bullets and beat protesters with truncheons, first as several protesters were trying to tear down barriers and later to clear the square. The police said at least 15 people had been arrested and at least 6 injured.

The protest, promoted over the Internet by different activist groups, was younger and more rowdy than recent marches called by labor unions. Protesters said they were fed up with cuts to public salaries and health and education.

“My annual salary has dropped by 8000 euros and if it falls much further I won’t be able to make ends meet,” said Luis Rodriguez, 36, a firefighter who joined the protest. He said he is considering leaving Spain to find a better quality of life.

With this year’s budget deficit target looking untenable, the conservative government is now looking at such things as cuts in inflation-linked pensions, taxes on stock transactions, “green taxes” on emissions or eliminating tax breaks.

The 2013 budget is the second one conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has had to pass since he took office in December. Spain must persuade its European partners that it can cut the budget shortfall by more than 60 billion euros by 2014.

Rajoy has already passed spending cuts and tax hikes worth slightly more than that over the next two years, but half-year figures show the 2012 deficit target slipping from view as tax income forecasts will not be hit due to economic contraction.

He said earlier this month the 2013 budget would cut spending further in all areas of government apart from pensions and borrowing costs.

Spain is at the centre of the euro zone debt crisis on concerns the government cannot control its finances and those of highly indebted regions, bitten by a second recession since 2009 which has put one in four workers out of a job.

Regional tension

On the regional front, Catalonia, which generates about 20 percent of the national output, announced on Tuesday it would hold early elections on November 25 after its call for more tax autonomy was rejected last week by Rajoy.

Political uncertainty in cash-strapped Catalonia, along with an announcement from southern region Andalucia it might seek a 4.9 billion euros credit line from the central government, will pile more pressure on Madrid to seek European aid.

Rajoy is holding back from applying for help, which would activate a European Central Bank bond-buying programme and bring down Spain’s punishing debt premiums.

With the threat of the plan alone reducing 10-year yields by around 2 percentage points, the cautious leader, known for keeping his cards close to his chest, is playing for time.

Rajoy says he is mulling the conditions of a bailout application, but suspicion that he may wait until after regional elections on October 21 pushed short-term yields higher at auction on Tuesday.

The government is also expected on Thursday or Friday to set a fresh timetable for economic reforms, seen as an attempt to pre-empt strict EU-imposed conditions for aid.

“Let us in, we want to evict you,” protesters chanted outside parliament. Evictions have soared in Spain as thousands of people have defaulted on bank loans.

Demonstrators said they were angry that the state has poured funds into crumbled banks while it is cutting social benefits.

“We’re protesting against the cuts. I’ve had to give up my apartment,” said Ondina, a 30-year-old fine arts graduate who is without a job. She said she can’t survive on an unemployment benefit of 260 euros ($340) a month.

Running out of options

Half-year deficit data indicate national accounts are already on a slope that will drive Spain into a bailout. The deficit to end-June stands at over 4.3 percent of gross domestic product, including transfers to bailed out banks, making meeting the 6.3 percent target by the end of the year almost impossible.

On Tuesday, the treasury ministry said the central government deficit to end-August had reached 4.77 percent of GDP, already above its year-end target of 4.5 percent of GDP.

“Its going to be difficult keeping the deficit to around 2 percent in the second half, when the first half was closer to 4 percent, especially since traditionally, the second half deficit is higher than the first,” said Juan Ignacio Conde-Ruiz, economist at Madrid’s Complutense University.

For 2012, the measures aim to reap savings of over 13 billion euros, but economists see the deficit missing the target by almost 1 percentage points implies further saving needs of up to 10 billion euros for this year alone.

Rajoy has been careful to highlight the importance of next year’s deficit target of 4.5 percent of GDP though any shortfall this year will weigh on 2013’s accounts. After slashing civil servants’ wages, raising value added tax and cutting health and education spending, Rajoy is running out of options. – Reuters

Another round of protests over Prophet Mohammad movie

muslims_protest_usembldn — Muslim protest in London near US embassy

(Reuters) – Protesters in Afghanistan and Indonesia burnt U.S. flags and chanted “Death to America” on Monday in renewed demonstrations over a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad that has unleashed a wave of anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim and Arab world.

Indonesian police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who massed outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, capital of the most populous Muslim nation.

In Kabul, thousands of protesters took to the streets, setting fire to cars and shops and throwing stones at police.

“We will defend our prophet until we have blood across our bodies. We will not let anyone insult him,” said one protester in the Afghan capital. “Americans will pay for their dishonor.”

The demonstrations were the latest across the world provoked by a short film made with private funds in the United States that depicted the Prophet Mohammad as a fool and womanizer.

In a torrent of violence last week, the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi and U.S. and other foreign embassies were stormed in several cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by enraged Muslims. At least nine other people have been killed.

The United States has sent ships, extra troops and special forces to protect its interests and citizens in the Middle East while a number of its embassies have evacuated staff and are on high alert for trouble.

The situation poses an unexpected foreign policy headache for U.S. President Barack Obama as he campaigns for re-election in November, even though his administration has condemned the film as reprehensible and disgusting.

Despite efforts early in his tenure to improve relations with the Arab and Muslim world, he faces a number of problems including the continued U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear program, the Syrian civil war and the fall-out from the Arab Spring revolts.

US, ISRAEL FLAGS BURNED

The renewed protests on Monday dashed any hopes that the furor over the film might fade despite an appeal from the senior cleric in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines, for calm over the weekend.

In the Kabul demonstration, protesters shouted “Death to America” and burned the flags of the United Sates and of Israel, a country reviled by many Muslims and Arabs because of the Palestinian issue.

Police Lieutenant-General Fahem Qayem put the number of demonstrators at between 3,000 and 4,000 but said police had the situation under control.

Embassies in central Kabul, including the U.S. and British missions, were placed on lockdown and violence flared near fortified housing compounds for foreign workers.

Rallies also took place in London, Australia, Turkey and Pakistan on Sunday, showing the global scale of the outrage.

In other developments on Monday, Iran said it would hunt for those responsible for making the film.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns this inappropriate and offensive action,” First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said. “Certainly it will search for, track, and pursue this guilty person who has insulted 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.”

Iranian officials have demanded that the United States apologize to Muslims for the film, saying it is only the latest in a series of Western insults aimed at Islam’s holy figures.

The head of Lebanon’s Iranian-allied Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called for protests in Beirut this week and said the United States must be held accountable.

“All these developments are being orchestrated by U.S. intelligence,” he said.

The identity of those directly responsible for the film is still murky. Clips posted online since July have been attributed to a man named Sam Bacile, which two people connected with the film have said was probably an alias.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, a Coptic Christian widely linked to the film in media reports, was questioned in California on Saturday by U.S. authorities investigating possible violations of his probation for a bank fraud conviction.

Riots in black area north of Johannesburg

by Meggan Saville and Jenni Evans

Tear gas was fired at protesting residents of Kya Sand, north of Johannesburg, on Monday afternoon, Gauteng police said.

Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said a small group of protesters started throwing stones at police escorting them back to the Inadan informal settlement.

Police retaliated by firing gas canisters at those who were being unruly, and restored calm, he said.

The protesters had dispersed around 1.30pm, but later regrouped and blocked Riverbend and Aghulas Roads, said Democratic Alliance ward councillor Matome Mafokwane.

He said police fired rubber bullets at the crowd, but Dlamini denied this.

Earlier, members of the mayoral committee (MMC) addressed the protesters.

Housing MMC, Dan Bovu, told the community he would engage with them to prioritise their needs for planned development in the area.

When he said he would check his diary to find a suitable time for this, the protesters jeered at him.

Public safety MMC Matshidiso Mfikoe said a meeting would be convened with the residents’ leadership next Tuesday.

She said a broad, integrated programme of development was needed, and she said she would ask the provincial government, before the meeting, about long-term solutions to problems facing the community.

“We need money for building roads, for sewers… this needs to be quantified,” Mfikoe said.

Mafokwane said that the possible relocation of residents from Inadan, an informal “mini-settlement”, to the greater Kya Sand informal settlement was the reason initially given for the protest.

A small group had turned out on Wednesday to protest against the relocation, but this had escalated into demands for housing and sanitation.

Bovu said about 2000 people living at the informal settlement needed to be moved because it was on a wetland and not conducive to development.

Possible solutions included moving families to Kya Sand or Cosmo City and speaking to local private land owners to find suitable land.

Around 500 protesters sang and waved sticks, watched by a large police contingent on Monday.

Police cordoned off Malibongwe road in the vicinity of the protest. A water cannon was on standby, but was not used.

Earlier, Mafokwane said the protest was not political.

“I don’t want to believe that this is political, I want to separate this from politics,” he said.

Mafokwane said it was unclear what had sparked the renewed protests.

“Obviously something must have happened… It started with one grievance, now it’s packing on top with others,” he said.

A spokesman for the informal settlement dwellers, Ephraim Lifuwas, said employers were likely to bear the brunt of the protest as workers were unable to get to work.

The intention was to pressurise the government into yielding to their demands.

“Build houses. That is what we need,” he said.

Regarding the relocation of residents, Mafokwane said normally a decision was made on an issue only after departments had given councillors a detailed brief, and feedback had been obtained from the community.

Even he, as a councillor, was not sure of the situation regarding the relocation, he said.

“I’m in the face of this protest. I need to give them answers, but even I don’t know what is going on.

“A meeting was secured for tonight, but now the situation has overtaken us, and we are talking about a big crowd wanting answers now.

“It’s no longer about the move, it’s now about water, housing, sanitation.”

Mafokwane said that although the DA controlled the ward politically, the African National Congress-run council controlled the resources.

“Leaving aside whether the protest is legal or illegal, their concerns are legitimate, they are valid, make no mistake,” he said.

The Kya Sand protest is the latest in a number of protests around the country in the past 10 days, including protests in Heidelberg in Gauteng and Hangberg in the Western Cape.

Apart from a protest at a church in Evaton, that appeared to be connected to allegations of Satanism, the other protests were intended to draw attention to housing, water, electricity and education complaints.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa visited the site of protests in the farming area of Heidelberg last week.

The ANC has urged people to be patient with the government’s pace of installing utilities and providing housing.

The Kya Sand informal settlement was established in the past two decades, on a tract of land originally surrounded by farms and agricultural holdings.

Since then it has changed into a light industrial and retail zone. – Sapa