Egypt: A Mysterious Film Angers Thousands

Photo Blog by Mosa'ab Elshamy

Protests against an anti-Islam film at the American embassy in Cairo have taken a violent turn as police attempt to disperse thousands. Initially, Salafis called for a protest on Friday angered by a mysterious film supposedly made in the US, which insults the Prophet Mohammad. Though very few people have actually watched the trailer for the film, which was uploaded to YouTube, anger spread by word of mouth in Cairo, as youth scaled the walls of the American Embassy, tearing down the flag and replacing it with one that depicts Islamic emblems. Violence has been ongoing in Cairo for over 24 hours, with hundreds injured and dozens arrested. The ruling Muslim Brotherhood party initially called for protests this Friday across Egypt, but called off the demonstration.

Meanwhile on Twitter, the US embassy staff in Cairo responded to a tweet by the Muslim Brotherhood, which expressed relief that “none of the US embassy staff were harmed and hope US-Eg[yptian] relations will sustain turbulence of Tuesday’s events” by pointing out the MB’s doublespeak: “"Thanks. By the way, have you checked out your own Arabic feeds? I hope you know we read those too."

.@ikhwanweb Thanks. By the way, have you checked out your own Arabic feeds? I hope you know we read those too.

— US Embassy Cairo (@USEmbassyCairo) September 13, 2012