Violent protests against video rock Pakistan
Last updated: 22 September 2012
At least 20 reported killed as demonstrators clash with police, while nation holds "Love the Prophet Day" marches.

Reports say at least 20 people have died as demonstrations against an anti-Islam video erupted across Pakistan, a day after protesters tried to storm the US embassy in the capital, Islamabad.

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets across the country after the government called an impromptu public holiday to let people protest under the banner of "Love the Prophet Day".


Crowds armed with clubs and bamboo poles converged on the Firdaus picture house, "smashing it up and setting furniture ablaze", according to Gohar Ali, a police officer.





Police on alert

"They do not want this anti-Islam video to be supported by the United States," said Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad.


Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports on growing US concern



"All the entry and exit points of the city are heavily guarded. Helicopters are on stand-by for aerial surveillance," Fayyaz Laghari, provincial police chief, said.





US launches PR blitz

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from the US state department, said: "So there's a lot of concern that there could be real blowback against the US."


Our correspondent continued: "Pakistan is one of those countries where anti-American sentiment is already quite high and certainly having this video - said to be the genesis for so many of these demonstrations across the region - doesn't help the US cause."

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met on Friday with Pakistan's foreign minister, who avoided an invitation to explicitly condemn the violence.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Clinton called on "leaders and responsible people everywhere to stand up and speak out against violence".

Standing beside her, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar focused her comments entirely on the film, which Muslims believe is blasphemous.

She thanked Clinton for speaking out against the video, saying it sent a "strong message" that should help end the violence.

"The last 18 months were very, very difficult," Khar said at the start of the talks Clinton, adding the nations were doing "better than we could have expected to do in rebuilding the trust".

Against this tense backdrop, the US bought time on Pakistani television stations to run a series of ads  on Thursday in an effort to assuage Muslim feelings of hurt.





Addressing a media briefing on the ad campaign, Victoria Nuland, state department spokeswoman, said the aim was "to make sure that the Pakistani people hear the president's messages and the secretary's messages".

'Feelings of dignity'




In Libya, rival demonstrations occurred by an anti-militia "Save Benghazi" group, and by the Salafi group Ansar Sharia, widely accused of being behind the attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city.

Police cracked down on any planned rallies in the Tunisian capital, while some 200 Moroccans protested in Rabat's twin city of Sale.

In France, authorities had also outlawed any public demonstrations on Friday against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.


Reporting from the city of Freiburg, Germany, Nick Spicer said, "Several hundred came to express their feelings of dignity and love for the Prophet".

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