CAIRO: Fresh clashes between police and protesters, angry over a film, apparently made in the United States, deemed offensive to Islam, erupted on Friday outside the US embassy in Cairo.
The protesters, many in their teens and moving around in small clusters, pelted police with stones who responded by firing tear gas, an AFP reporter said.
Roads leading up to the embassy in central Cairo were littered with stones and rocks.
Protesters shuttle between the streets surrounding the embassy and Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Cairo protests.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest political group and on whose ticket President Mohamed Morsi ran, has called for “peaceful protests” outside mosques across the country after the noon prayer.
Several thousand angry protesters had gathered outside the US embassy on Tuesday. One group breached the wall and brought down the flag.
On Thursday, clashes left 224 people injured, eight of whom were admitted to hospital, said health ministry official Ahmed al-Ansari.
UN chief slams `hateful film’
Calling for calm and restraint at the time of rising tensions, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned as “hateful” the anti-Islam that triggered anti-American protest in the Middle East and North Africa. “The secretary-general is deeply disturbed by the recent violence in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East,” said a statement issued here late Thursday by Ban’s spokesperson.
“Nothing justifies such killings and attacks”, Xinhua reported, quoting the statement. The secretary general “condemns the hateful film that appears to have been deliberately designed to sow bigotry and bloodshed”, the statement said.
The statement came as angry demonstrations against the anti-Islam film reportedly made in the US have spread to several countries across the Middle East and North Africa.
“At this time of rising tensions, the secretary-general calls for calm and restraint, and stresses the need for dialogue, mutual respect and understanding,” the statement said. (IANS)