Two Sudanese killed in protest against US embassy, police say
September 15, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese police said two peoples were killed in violent demonstrations organised against the US embassy in Khartoum over a film defaming the Prophet Muhammad.
After Friday prayer the protesters moved first to the German Embassy in Khartoum where they quickly stormed the building and raised a black flag, used by radical groups with the Muslim profession of faith, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”.
Over 5,000 protesters moved to the well protected US embassy in the suburb of Soba 20 kilometers south east of Khartoum. The 250 police officers posted there were able to contain the protesters at a security perimeter, 150 meters from the main gate of the embassy for some time.
Meanwhile a police vehicle struck a protester when the crowed broke the security cordon and moved towards the embassy. The demonstrators turned their chants against the regime when news of the death spread among those present.
Eyewitnesses said three people were killed, also the official Radio Omdurman gave the same figure when it spoke about the death toll of the clashes outsides the US embassy but the Sudanese police in a statement released late during the evening said only two were killed.
The police also said the protesters wounded 50 policemen and torched a vehicle. The official communiqué was keen to underscore the policemen did not use any firearms.
A US embassy spokesperson told Reuters that all the staff are safe and no one was harmed.
After the death of people, the angry protesters took advantage of the situation and jumped the outer wall of the embassy. Some of them hoisted a black Islamic flag on a balcony inside the new building.
The few Marines insides the embassy were on the roofs and fired warning shots into the air to dissuade the protesters from moving deep inside the compound.
The protests against the US embassy in Khartoum is part of a series of protests against US diplomatic missions in Islamic world.
In Libya, radical groups killed the Ambassador John Christopher Stevens and three members of his staff. The incident triggered the deployment of further troops at the American mission in Tripoli.
Reuters quoted anonymous source saying a platoon of Marines will be deployed in US embassy in Khartoum
An ABC News journalist covering the State Department and foreign affairs wrote on Twitter that US Vice President Joe Biden called Sudan’s Frist Vice President Ali Osman Taha asking the permission to deploy more Marines in Khartoum.
“The highest priority of the United States is the safety of the US diplomatic presence abroad,” Biden told Taha according to Dana Hughes.
(ST)
Al Jazeera English | Anti-Islam video protests shake Sudan | 14 September 2012