Fury over anti-Islam film in Australia too

Police in Sydney yesterday fired pepper spray to contain protesters trying to enter the building housing the US consulate, as a wave of unrest against a film mocking Islam spread to Australia. Bottles, shoes and other objects were hurled during the clashes with police that resulted in eight arrests, with six police officers injured as the unexpected protest brought parts of the city to a standstill. “Police stopped the group attempting to enter the MLC centre that houses the American consulate,” police superintendent Mark Walton told reporters of the clash, which left some protesters weeping from the impact of the spray. Furious protests targeting symbols of US influence flared in cities across the Muslim world on Friday in retaliation for a crude film made in the US by a right-wing Christian group that ridicules the Prophet. In Sydney, shoppers yesterday looked on in surprise as protesters shouted ‘Down, down USA’ and waved banners such as ‘Behead all those who insult the prophet’ and ‘Obama, Obama, we love Osama’. “We are sick and tired of everyone mocking our beloved prophet,” protester Houda Dib told AFP, as the crowd of about 500 gathered outside the US consulate. “They have no right to mock our prophet. We don’t go around mocking anyone’s religion.” Demonstrators were pushed back from the steps outside the consulate by police, who then used capsicum spray, provoking anger among some in the crowd, many of whom had brought their children with them. “They were aggravating the situation by pushing our brothers,” Dib said. “This is supposed to be a peaceful protest.” But police said while there were peaceful elements in the crowd, others had a different agenda. “There were elements of the group that were... aggressive, and violent at times and came into conflict with police,” said Walton. The protesters later moved several blocks away to Hyde Park, where at least one speaker called for calm, saying the aim of their protest - which some demonstrators said they had learned about from Facebook - was to send a message. “We are here for the sake of our god,” he said. “The message is clear, you cannot mock (the Prophet).” But further clashes broke out with police before the crowd eventually dispersed. Two police cars were also damaged in the protest which saw some 150 police deployed to the central business district.Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked militants call for retaliatory attacks on the WestSomalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Shebaab yesterday called on Muslims yesterday to attack the West in retaliation against a movie that “insulted” the Prophet and has spread anger around the Muslim world. “The Shebaab mujahideen are urging people of Somalia to show their love for Islam and particularly to our Prophet by making attacks against the West,” Shebaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP by telephone, without specifying any targets. “The unprovoked attacks against the Prophet are not initiated by media houses and movie makers but they are clear instructions by Western governments,” he said. “There should be great sacrifices when your country is under occupation and your religion is also under siege.” On Friday protesters burnt a US flag at a rally in Bulloburte, a town under Shebaab control in central Somalia. On Friday and again yesterday in Mogadishu, a handful of people staged peaceful demonstrations chanting slogans that criticised the movie.Abdullahi Sheikh Osman, a respected spiritual leader in Mogadishu, came yesterday to talk to the protesters. “Don’t kill innocent people for something they have not done,” he urged Muslims. “The man who made the nasty film is the Al Qaeda of Christians. If Muslims make havoc, then they are rewarding the crazy man.“The person who made the filthy movie is not a religious person, but a reckless individual who dislikes harmony among people of different religious beliefs.”