| Protests Rage As Families Mourn The Loss Of Four U.S. Citizens |
| Sep-14-2012 |
| Keywords: protests, spread, egypt, libya, yemen,tunisia, iran, |
Even as the bodies of the four Americans killed in Libya were returned to the United States, Islamist protesters raged across the Middle East and North Africa.
Marines arrived in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of another attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa.
Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team is in Yemen as a "precautionary measure."
The move comes amid reports that protesters jumped over U.S. Embassy walls in both Sudan and Tunisia. 3 people have been reported dead and more than two dozen wounded during the Tunisia attack, Reuters reports. Reuters also reported that protesters set fire to trees and broke windows inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis.
A senior U.S. official, without explaining the extent of the breach in the latter attack, told Fox News that Tunisian security forces "have responded effectively" so far to the incident.
"We're keeping a close eye on events there, but for the moment, the Tunisians are doing precisely what they should do in the face of such events," the official said.
One official also reportedly claimed that protesters in Sudan have been expelled. Witnesses said Sudanese police opened fire on those trying to climb the walls.
The day of protests, which spread to around 20 countries, started small and mostly peacefully in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The most violent demonstrations took place in the Middle East. In many places, only a few hundred took to the streets, mostly ultraconservative Islamists -- but the mood was often furious.
One protester was killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in clashes with security forces, after a crowd of protesters set fire to a KFC and a Hardee's restaurant.
Security forces in Egypt and Yemen fired tear gas and clashed with protesters to keep them away from U.S. embassies. And Germany's Foreign Minister says the country's embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum was stormed by protesters and set on fire.
A senior State Department official said Friday that the administration set up a 24-hour "monitoring team to insure appropriate coordination."
The intense demonstrations, purportedly by people upset over an anti-Islam film, follow warnings by the State Department that the protests could spread across the region.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI also issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning that the violent outrage aimed at U.S. embassies could be spread to America by extremist groups.
In a statement to Fox News, a DHS official said that there is no specific, credible information at this time to indicate that the attacks have increased the threat of violent reaction in the U.S., but it will continue to identify potential threats and take appropriate measures. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 2:00 PM Email to a friend |
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