2 dead 29 dead as Tunisian salafist protesters storm US embassy
Two people were killed Friday and dozens injured in clashes at the US embassy in Tunis, where protests over an anti-Islam film degenerated into violence that left smoke billowing from the sprawling compound, AFP reported.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/2-dead-29-dead-...
Tunisian police fired live rounds and tear gas to drive away the angry protesters, some of whom had thrown petrol bombs and stormed the embassy, in a suburb of the capital, an AFP journalist reported.
Thick black smoke rose into the sky as the protesters, most of whom appeared to be radical Salafist Muslims, also ransacked and set fire to an American school nearby.
President Moncef Marzouki in a television address denounced the attack on the embassy, calling it an unacceptable act against a friendly country.
“The violence that took place today outside the American embassy is totally unacceptable and is condemned,” he said.
“One can maybe understand the anger of demonstrators and even share in it, but these young people have begun to commit acts of destruction, to set fire… to the embassy of a friendly country.”
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, from the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, said he was “deeply troubled” by the attack on the embassy, according to the official TAP news agency, and cut short a two day break to return to Tunis. In a BBC interview he had said that the demonstration was part of democracy so long as it remained non violent.
The government appealed for calm, calling on “all citizens to respect the law and to express their positions peacefully when confronted with attacks on the sacred symbols and offenses against the prophet,” TAP reported.
It also condemned the attack, saying those responsible would be brought to trial.
Tunisian imams and hardline Salafists had called Friday’s protest outside the embassy to denounce a film mocking Islam posted on the Internet that has sparked anti-US protests across the Islamic world.
Thick black smoke rose into the sky as the protesters, most of whom appeared to be radical Salafist Muslims, also ransacked and set fire to an American school nearby.
President Moncef Marzouki in a television address denounced the attack on the embassy, calling it an unacceptable act against a friendly country.
“The violence that took place today outside the American embassy is totally unacceptable and is condemned,” he said.
“One can maybe understand the anger of demonstrators and even share in it, but these young people have begun to commit acts of destruction, to set fire… to the embassy of a friendly country.”
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, from the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, said he was “deeply troubled” by the attack on the embassy, according to the official TAP news agency, and cut short a two day break to return to Tunis. In a BBC interview he had said that the demonstration was part of democracy so long as it remained non violent.
The government appealed for calm, calling on “all citizens to respect the law and to express their positions peacefully when confronted with attacks on the sacred symbols and offenses against the prophet,” TAP reported.
It also condemned the attack, saying those responsible would be brought to trial.
Tunisian imams and hardline Salafists had called Friday’s protest outside the embassy to denounce a film mocking Islam posted on the Internet that has sparked anti-US protests across the Islamic world.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/2-dead-29-dead-...