l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 By MATT BRADLEY
CAIRO—Protesters breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday night,
pulling down and burning an American flag to protest a U.S.-produced film
they said was insulting to Islam.
Protesters destroyed an American flag pulled down from the U.S. embassy in
Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday.
The demonstrators who climbed the walls were among about 2,000 mostly male
Islamists who converged outside the heavily guarded mission late Tuesday.
Several young men who scaled the embassy's concrete walls earlier in the
evening were met by rubber bullets fired by embassy guards, witnesses
reported. A U.S. Embassy official denied that embassy guards had fired on
the invading protesters. There were no reports of deaths or injuries.
Protest leaders said they convinced the young men to leave the embassy
grounds without further violence. But hours after nightfall, dozens of young
men were still standing on top of the embassy walls, shouting into
megaphones and hoisting black flags emblazoned with the Muslim declaration
of faith: "There is no God but God and Mohamed is His Messenger."
Some of the demonstrators spray-painted the slogan on the embassy's walls as
hundreds of police, clad in riot gear, sat by.
The precise spark of the anger remains obscure, with several demonstrators
citing a new film that seeks to portray the Prophet Mohamed as a lascivious
fraud. Protesters said they rallied to the embassy at the prompting of
Islamist Facebook groups and hardline Salafi preachers who frequently preach
on Islamist satellite channels. Egyptian clerics had widely condemned the
video in the days leading up to the protest.
Several demonstrators said the film was made by expatriate Egyptian
Christians living in the United States. Others said it was produced by Terry
Jones, the Florida pastor who sparked deadly riots around the world in 2010
when he threatened to burn a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy text.
Representatives for Mr. Jones declined to comment but said they were
preparing a statement.
In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo called respect for religious
beliefs a cornerstone of American democracy. "The Embassy of the United
States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to
hurt the religious feelings of Muslims—as we condemn efforts to offend
believers of all religions," it said. "We firmly reject the actions by those
who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs
of others."
It wasn't immediately clear whether the brief invasion of U.S. embassy
grounds—one of the largest diplomatic facilities in the world, alongside U.
S. missions in Baghdad and Kabul—would damage America's relationship with
the new Islamist-backed Egyptian administration.
But the incident puts a spotlight on how the Arab world's largest country is
adapting to the new imperatives of democracy and free expression—concepts
that were almost entirely unknown to this nation throughout its ancient
history.
"Freedom of belief is more important than freedom of expression," said
Ashraf Ibrahim, 34, who was at Tuesday's protest.
Egyptian society would never fully adopt the Western notion of "liberalism"
despite American-led efforts to impose such ideals on Arab nations, said Mr.
Ibrahim's friend, Ahmed Hamza. "The American system will fall," said Mr.
Hamza.
Like many of the demonstrators, Mr. Hamza and Mr. Ibrahim wore short beards
that characterize hardline Salafi Muslims.
Though the film was the focus of demonstrators' outrage, the spirited
protest amounted to more of a general outpouring of grievances against U.S.
policy in the Islamic world. Several signs and chants decried the U.S.-led
invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as American support for Israel.
Many recalled the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed thousands of U.S.
citizens 11 years earlier. Mohammed Al Zawahiri, the brother of Al Qaeda
leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, was among those who attended the rally early in
the evening.
"Obama! Obama! We are all Osama!" went one chant. | l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 2 埃及就这副屌样,疤蟆还要每年给他们1.5billion 援助?
US aid to Egypt is $1.5 billion/year [1]. And the worst insult is they did
this despite Pres. Obama's brilliant speech in Cairo (2009) in which G.W.
Bush's anti-terror policy was thrown under the bus.
Obama Speech Cairo, June 4, 2009
"And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we
must never alter or forget our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to
our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable. But in
some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We
are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally
prohibited the use of torture by the United States. And I have ordered the
prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. " [2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Egypt
[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31102929/ns/politics-white_house/t/full-text-obamas-speech-cairo/ |
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