PAKISTAN: Angry protesters demonstrating against a film making fun of the Prophet Mohammad set fire to several cinemas, banks and vehicles in Karachi

Record ID: 872756

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Angry protesters demonstrating against a film making fun of the Prophet Mohammad set fire to several cinemas, banks and vehicles in Karachi
  • Date: 22nd September 2012
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (SEPTEMBER 21, 2012) (REUTERS) SMOKE RISING FROM CINEMA BUILDING AS PROTESTERS GATHERED PROTESTERS TRYING TO BREAK GATE OF CINEMA VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS ENTERING GATE CINEMA ON FIRE SMOKE RISING FROM CINEMA BUILDING VARIOUS OF BUILDING ON FIRE SMOKE RISING/PROTESTERS GATHERED POLICE CINEMA FURNITURE ON FIRE/POLICE CHASING PROTESTERS WHILE FIRING TEAR GAS TEAR GAS SMOKE/PROTESTERS PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY DAMAGED ENTRANCE OF BANK BROKEN GLASS ON GROUND PROTESTERS MARCHING AS TYRE BURNS ON STREET BANK BUILDING ON FIRE PROTESTERS DAMAGE AT BANK SMOKE COMING OUT OF BANK BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Arts,Politics,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZV691U8CGXMW5R6B407KO35J
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Angry protesters demonstrating against a film making fun of the Prophet Mohammad, set fire to several cinemas, banks and vehicles in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday (September 21).
    At least three cinemas, two banks and more than four vehicles, including police cars, were set ablaze.
    Protesters also damaged some shops at the Sheraton hotel.
    An anti-Islam film made in America has enraged Muslims and led to days of protests across the Muslim world while cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad published in a French magazine on Wednesday were expected to compound the anger.
    Pakistan has declared Friday a "Day of Love for the Prophet Mohammad." Critics of the unpopular government said it was pandering to Islamist parties.
    Earlier in the day, protesters took to the streets of Peshawar, an old frontier town on the main road to Afghanistan, and torched two cinemas and clashed with riot police who tried to disperse them with teargas.
    At least five protesters were hurt, a doctor at the city's main hospital said. The ARY television station said an employee had been killed.
    Near the capital, Islamabad, protesters set fire to a motorway toll booth. The previous day, about 1,000 stone-throwing protesters clashed with police as they tried to force their way to the U.S. embassy.
    The government shut down mobile phone services in more than a dozen cities as part of security arrangements ahead of protests expected on Friday.
    The U.S. embassy in Pakistan has been running television advertisements, one featuring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying the government had nothing to do with the film.
    The 13-minute English-language video, which was filmed in California, portrays the Muslim Prophet Mohammad engaged in crude and offensive behaviour. Many of the Islamic faith regard any depiction of the prophet as blasphemous.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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