Demonstrators staged anti-American protests in at least fiveArab capitals and other cities around the region, setting foreign embassiesalight and calling for the expulsion of US ambassadors. The protests, sparkedby a decidedly anti-Islam video produced in California and posted online, butwhich now include other issues as well, have continued for over a week now.Beginning first in Egypt and Libya, they have spread ” in varying degrees andforms ” to about 20 countries around the world.
Security forces killed four protesters outside the USembassy in Yemen. Protesters in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, set fire to theUS consulate there. Dozens were injured in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. In theSudanese capital Khartoum, the German embassy was set on fire by a mob of protestersstaging a demonstration against the United States nearby. In Libya, in a deadlyincident, an armed attack took place on the US consulate.
But even as the demonstrations widened, the aims andgrievances of the protesters became significantly less clear. While the video wasa trigger for the violence, longstanding grievances against US influence in theregion and deep, unaddressed socioeconomic problems appeared be feeding theunrest. In some cases, local political groups or even governments, appeared touse the video as cover for their own political gain ” whether in bids to seekpopularity or to deflect attention from their own economic and politicalmalaise.
Protests in Cairo intensified and dozens of disaffectedyouth took their own opportunity to battle the long-hated ” and stillun-reformed ” Egyptian riot police deployed to protect the US embassy, justblocks from the iconic Tahrir Square. Egypt’s struggle for international funds,including from the International Monetary Fund, to stave-off a looming economiccrisis that is pushing thousands into poverty, has been forced into thebackseat as the violence continued and the showdown with the United Stateserupted. In another cash-strapped Middle East nation facing renewed, andgrowing, protests calling for serious reform, the Jordanian government issued astatement condemning the film.
The US is a stalwart backer of the Hashemite monarchy inJordan, providing its government with crucial financial and military support. “Wewant to stop western aggression in our region,” said 25-year-old Abu Dojanah,an engineer from Amman. “The US occupies the entire world, and interferes inall Muslim nations. Even if they say they recognize Islam as a religion, theyare liars.”
“The old tools [usedto repress anti-government protests aren’t working, so they are using newtools,” said Enas Mussallem, a social activist at the forefront of theJordanian reform movement. By focusing the Islamists on a US enemy, “they wantus to be distracted,” she said.
