Anti-Islamic cartoon adds fire to Muslim protesters

Protestors took to the streets of several Muslim countries yesterday (Thursday) as demonstrations gathered pace over a low-budget anti-Islamic video and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by a French magazine.

Pakistan ordered soldiers on to the streets of Islamabad to protect Western embassies as a stone-throwing mob threatened to breach police defences.

Dozens of protesters and police officers were injured as 4,000 people, many carrying flags of banned extremist groups, tried to converge on the city's fortified "red zone", home to diplomatic missions and government offices.

Elsewhere, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the main terrorist grouping in North Africa, threatened to kill four French hostages it has held for the past two years in northern Mali.

The decision by the satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, to print cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed on Wednesday has added fuel to protests that began last week, when trailers for Innocence of Muslims received widespread attention.

Pakistan police used lorry containers to close roads leading to the capital's diplomatic enclave as four separate demonstrations tried to converge.

Officers fired live rounds into the air and threw tear gas canisters into the crowd. Protesters threw stones and chanted: "We are ready to die to safeguard the Prophet's honour".

Many carried flags of Jamaat-ud-Dawa a charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and banned sectarian groups, such as Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been accused of a number of terrorist attacks.

Protests began slowly in Pakistan and only grew this week as word of the video spread. Two people have died so far.

Hospital workers said more than 40 police officers were injured in yesterday's violence along with six protesters.

The US has advised against all but essential travel to Pakistan. French embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in about 20 Muslim countries will be closed today for fear of violence following Muslim weekly prayers.

A US judge has denied a request to force YouTube to remove the film trailer for the anti-Islam film. Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appears in the clip, brought a lawsuit, claiming she has been threatened and her career damaged since the trailer was uploaded, adding that she was duped into appearing in the film.