Egypt PM urges US to end 'insults'

Mr Qandil said the film had been made by "wicked" amateurs, but that while it was "unacceptable to insult our Prophet" it was also "unjustifiable to have a peaceful demo turned violent".,reported AFP.
 
"Egyptians, Arabs, Muslims - we need to reflect the true identity of Muslims, how peaceful they are, and talk to the Western media about the true heart of the Muslims, that they condemn violence," said Mr Qandil.
 
"At the same time we need to reach a balance between freedom of expression and to maintain respect for other peoples' beliefs."
 
When asked whether he thought the US should change its laws governing freedom of speech laws, he replied: "I think we need to work out something around this because we cannot wait and see this happen again."
 
"This is a small number of people doing irresponsible work and everybody's paying the price."
 
The link between the US and Egypt was, he said, "a relationship that we need to make stronger based on mutual interests and respect for sovereignty".
 
He also called on the US, and other governments, to "take the necessary measures to ensure insulting billions of people, one-and-a-half billion people and their beliefs, does not happen and people pay for what they do, and at the same time make sure that the reflections of the true Egyptian and Muslims is well in the Western media."
 
The US has historically had a close relationship to Egypt, but earlier this week President Barack Obama said of Cairo: "I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy."
 
"They are a new government that's trying to find its way....I think we have to see how they respond to this incident."

In another interview with BBC Arabic, Qandil gave three reasons behind the US embassy clashes in Cairo: "I can start by saying that this event is attached to several unfortunate events. The first unfortunate event of course was this movie,reported Al Ahram.

"It was disgusting, and insulted the beliefs of many Muslims and, unjustified as well. So that was the first unfortunate event. The second event, related to the second part of your question, is linking this movie which was that is the work of a bunch of amateurs, wicked, you know they wanted to insult a very respectable religion.
 
"That movie linked to the US government was another unfortunate event because it couldn’t be linked to the US government and that was clearly mentioned by Madame Clinton publicly and privately when I spoke to her after this thing started.
 
"The third unfortunate event is that the peaceful opposition turned out to be violent expressions, which is also very unfortunate… I have to mention that the Egyptian authorities have taken proper measures to protect the diplomatic missions in Cairo and on Egyptian soil to ensure that people and the missions are safe and well protected."
 
When the prime minister was asked whether the US should make amendments to its laws governing freedom of speech and expression, he replied,"I think we need to work out something around this because we cannot wait and see this happen again."