Film Protests: Hezbollah Urges More Demonstrations in Lebanon

Hizbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah speaks on the sixth anniversary of the defeat of Israel in their attempted invasion of Lebanon. The Zionist suffered a huge setback to their military image., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

16 September 2012
Last updated at 20:52 ET

Film protests: Hezbollah urges new Lebanon protests

Sheikh Nasrallah called for several demonstrations over the coming week

The leader of the Shia Muslim militant group, Hezbollah, has called for fresh protests in Lebanon on Monday over a film deemed offensive to Muslims.

The world needed to know Muslims "would not be silent in the face of this insult", Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said.

Protests at many US diplomatic missions have been continuing over the film, which was made in the US.

One person was reportedly killed in clashes between protesters and police in Pakistan on Sunday.

In a speech broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV station, Sheikh Nasrallah called for demonstrations on several days over the coming week.

The first is scheduled to take place on Monday afternoon in a southern suburb of Beirut which is a Hezbollah stronghold.

He said he had waited for the Pope to complete his three-day official visit to Lebanon before speaking out on the matter.

"Those who should be held accountable, punished, prosecuted and boycotted are those directly responsible for this film and those who stand behind them and those who support and protect them, primarily the United States of America," Sheikh Nasrallah said.

There have been protests over the film in Lebanon in recent days, but most have been reported from the northern city of Tripoli, which has a Sunni Muslim majority.

The obscure, poorly-made film at the centre of the row, entitled Innocence of Muslims, depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a power-hungry and foolish man, and includes scenes of him having sex with his wife Khadija and other women.

The exact origins of the film are shrouded in mystery although US authorities say they believe the film was made by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a convicted fraudster living in California.

Warning shots fired

The clashes in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, occurred when protesters attempted to break through a barricade to the US consulate.

Clashes erupted between police and protesters around the US consulate in Karachi
Police used teargas and fired warning shots into the air in response to stone-throwing protesters.

A spokesman for the group that organised the rally told the Associated Press that a protester had been killed in the clashes. Several other people were injured.

The US Embassy in Islamabad announced on its Twitter feed that "all American personnel are safe and accounted for" at the consulate and thanked Pakistani police for their efforts in protecting it.

In the Danish capital Copenhagen, a few hundred people held a vocal demonstration outside the US embassy.

Protesters directed invective not just towards the controversial video, but also at US military involvement in the Middle East and Afghanistan, the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Copenhagen reports.

Crowds also gathered outside the US consulate in the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam.

Anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose party lost many of its seats in last week's elections, has posted a link to the video on his website and encouraged his followers to do the same.

Attack 'pre-planned'

Also on Sunday, the president of Libya's interim assembly said some 50 people had been arrested in connection with last week's deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

Mohamed Magarief told CBS News he had "no doubt" the attack was pre-planned, and that some of those who took part were from outside Libya.

US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US consulate staff were killed in the attack.

However, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told ABC that the the US's "current best assessment" was that "this began as a spontaneous, not a pre-meditated, response" to earlier protests over the film in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The violence in Benghazi was in turn followed by a string of attacks on US consulates, embassies and business interests across the Middle East and north Africa. British, Swiss, German and Dutch properties have also been targeted.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has called for fresh attacks against Western embassies, describing the recent unrest as "a great event", and urging protesters to unite to "expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims".