Mob still venting anger, one killed in Pak
18 Sep 2012 10:18 PM GMT
One person was killed in violent protests against an anti-Islam film in northwest Pakistan on Monday even as the Supreme Court directed authorities to block access to contents from the movie on YouTube and other web sites.
A man was killed and two more were injured in a reported exchange of fire with police during a protest in Upper Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest.
A mob of nearly 1,000 people also set on fire a press club and a police station during the protest.
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, thousands of students and teachers joined several protests against the anti-Islam film.
Members of the Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, were among those who joined the protests.
The demonstrators also called for the film to be banned. The protests, which began on Friday, spread to northwest Pakistan on Monday. Many people were also injured in the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday when protesters and security forces clashed outside the US Consulate.
Police tightened security all around the mission as hardline groups announced plans for more protests in Karachi.
Roads near the US Consulate were blocked with empty containers.
At least 44 policemen, besides 11 protesters, were injured in the clashes, said Mohammad Iqbal, Additional Inspector General [Sindh], adding that three of them were admitted to hospital in critical condition. ‘It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but turned violent when the protesters tried to enter the US consulate,’ he said.
The consulate was shifted to its present location from a security red zone some time back after a bomb attack. Protesters pelted stones and tried to climb the walls of the building before being brought down by the police.
In Islamabad, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to ‘immediately block’ clips from the film on YouTube and other web sites.
The PTA Chairman was directed to submit a report on the matter to the court later in the day. The apex court issued its order while hearing a constitutional petition filed by retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmed and former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed. The petition had asked the court to block obscene and objectionable material in the media. Noting that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority had not laid down standards for programming, the bench directed the body to frame a ‘commonly accepted standard of decency’ and take measures to control obscenity and indecency within two weeks. [Agencies]
RAGE AT LARGE
Hundreds of Afghans staged a violent protest in Kabul on Monday against the American film deemed offeinsive to Islam, throwing stones at a US base, torching cars and shouting ‘Death to America’. The demonstration erupted on Jalalabad Road, home to NATO and US military bases in the eastern part of the Afghan capital, with two police cars among those set ablaze [see picture], Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said
Hundreds of Yemeni students demonstrated on Monday calling for the expulsion of the US ambassador and condemning the deployment of US Marines to protect the American embassy. In response to the violence, the US had ordered the deployment of a Marines anti-terrorism unit to Sanaa to help protect its embassy, a move that was condemned by the Yemeni parliament
Protesters hurled petrol bombs and clashed with Indonesian police outside the US Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, as demonstrations in the world’s most populous Muslim nation turned violent
The United States said on Monday that it would close its embassy in Bangkok in response to a planned protest by ‘several hundred people’ over an anti-Islam film
A man was killed and two more were injured in a reported exchange of fire with police during a protest in Upper Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest.
A mob of nearly 1,000 people also set on fire a press club and a police station during the protest.
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, thousands of students and teachers joined several protests against the anti-Islam film.
Members of the Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, were among those who joined the protests.
The demonstrators also called for the film to be banned. The protests, which began on Friday, spread to northwest Pakistan on Monday. Many people were also injured in the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday when protesters and security forces clashed outside the US Consulate.
Police tightened security all around the mission as hardline groups announced plans for more protests in Karachi.
Roads near the US Consulate were blocked with empty containers.
At least 44 policemen, besides 11 protesters, were injured in the clashes, said Mohammad Iqbal, Additional Inspector General [Sindh], adding that three of them were admitted to hospital in critical condition. ‘It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but turned violent when the protesters tried to enter the US consulate,’ he said.
The consulate was shifted to its present location from a security red zone some time back after a bomb attack. Protesters pelted stones and tried to climb the walls of the building before being brought down by the police.
In Islamabad, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to ‘immediately block’ clips from the film on YouTube and other web sites.
The PTA Chairman was directed to submit a report on the matter to the court later in the day. The apex court issued its order while hearing a constitutional petition filed by retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmed and former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed. The petition had asked the court to block obscene and objectionable material in the media. Noting that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority had not laid down standards for programming, the bench directed the body to frame a ‘commonly accepted standard of decency’ and take measures to control obscenity and indecency within two weeks. [Agencies]
RAGE AT LARGE
Hundreds of Afghans staged a violent protest in Kabul on Monday against the American film deemed offeinsive to Islam, throwing stones at a US base, torching cars and shouting ‘Death to America’. The demonstration erupted on Jalalabad Road, home to NATO and US military bases in the eastern part of the Afghan capital, with two police cars among those set ablaze [see picture], Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said
Hundreds of Yemeni students demonstrated on Monday calling for the expulsion of the US ambassador and condemning the deployment of US Marines to protect the American embassy. In response to the violence, the US had ordered the deployment of a Marines anti-terrorism unit to Sanaa to help protect its embassy, a move that was condemned by the Yemeni parliament
Protesters hurled petrol bombs and clashed with Indonesian police outside the US Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, as demonstrations in the world’s most populous Muslim nation turned violent
The United States said on Monday that it would close its embassy in Bangkok in response to a planned protest by ‘several hundred people’ over an anti-Islam film
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