Mob attacks US embassy as protest sweep Muslim world

An angry mob forced its way into the American embassy in Yemen on Thursday as violence linked a film denigrating the Prophet Mohammed spread turmoil across the Muslim world.

Still reeling from the killing of Chris Stevens, its ambassador to Libya, and three of his colleagues in Benghazi, Washington scrambled to protect its diplomats elsewhere as protesters laid siege to US diplomatic missions in six Muslim states.

One person was reportedly shot dead by Yemeni security forces in Sana'a, the capital. More than 200 people were injured as Egyptian police fended off attempts by stone-throwing protesters to breach the perimeter of the US embassy in Cairo, as they had done the previous day when the American flag above the building was set on fire. Protests took place outside US missions in Morocco, Sudan, Bangladesh and Tunisia. About 500 Iranians chanting "death to America" tried to converge on the Swiss embassy, which handles US interests in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, while demonstrators burnt American flags on the streets of Baghdad.

Each demonstration involved only hundreds of people, but with anger mounting over what is being seen as the latest Western insult to Islam, there were predictions that the worst is still to come.

With Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood calling for a "million-man march" on the streets of Cairo after noon prayers today, governments across the Islamic world braced themselves for a potentially much more violent outpouring of public anger.

Last night, President Barack Obama said he had ordered his administration to do whatever was necessary to protect Americans abroad. Speaking at an election rally in Colorado, he said he and his aides had been in contact with other governments "to let them know they've got a responsibility to protect our citizens".

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, postponed a visit to Norway to deal with the threat, while Nigeria and the Philippines stepped up security outside foreign embassies. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, attempted to quell the rage by distancing the United States from the film, a production of mysterious provenance that portrayed Mohammed as a histrionic paedophile and homosexual.

"To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible," she said. "It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. The United States government has absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message."

In Sana'a, clouds of black smoke filled the sky as hundreds of Yemenis stormed the mission, overwhelming local security forces guarding a rear entrance.

Shouting "God is Great", they burnt an American flag, set fire to tyres, destroyed at least five cars and attempted to loot offices before they were dispersed by police who, according to witnesses, were initially overwhelmed by protesters.

Unlike the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi, which came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades, the protesters in Sana'a were not armed.

But there were suspicions that at least part of the protest was orchestrated rather than spontaneous after a group of men wearing masks arrived to join a protest that had initially been peaceful.

Yemen, in particular, has seen Islamist militant groups attack Western diplomats in the past, with both the British ambassador and deputy ambassador surviving assassination attempts in 2010.

Said al-Shehri, the deputy head of al-Qaeda's Yemeni wing, was allegedly killed in an army operation this week, raising fears that the group could seek to retaliate against American interests. The United States has carried out drone strikes against the group in recent years.

For all their vitriol, the protesters represent a small minority. Many Arabs have expressed their opposition to the film but are far more outraged by the violence it has ostensibly triggered.

"The film is an insult to the Prophet, but this is unbelievable," said a shopkeeper whose store was adjacent to the US embassy in Sana'a. "We're really struggling to understand how something like this could get so out of hand.'

Hisham Matar, the British-Libyan novelist, said that the majority in Benghazi shared similar views. He reported a deep sense of shame in the city, where demonstrations - this time appearing genuinely spontaneous - erupted to denounce the killing of the American diplomats.

Officials in Libya said an investigation had been opened into the attack and reported that "several" people had been arrested.