Rioting has continued at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for a third day, with 6 police officers and 13 protesters injured in the melee thus far. Demonstrators have been hurling rocks and firebombs at police and at the American embassy compound.
Security personnel have been trying to disperse the mob, which gathered near the embassy in Tahrir Square, by firing tear gas canisters from police vehicles.
At least 500 protesters gathered Wednesday in Cairo to protest against an obscure video made in the U.S. that satirized the life of the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, which has also touched off anti-American riots in other Arab countries across the region as well.
Chanting anti-U.S. slogans, the protest became violent by Wednesday night as demonstrators broke through barbed wire placed outside the American embassy. Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Alla Mahmoud told CNN that two police trucks and a car were torched in the ensuing riot. “Forces were able to push them down toward Tahrir Square, farther from embassy street,” he said.
Although several arrests were made, the riots continued Thursday for a third day. Meanwhile, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has yet to condemn the attackers. Instead, he attacked the producers of the video, “Innocence of Muslims,” in a statement on his Facebook page, condemning “the people who have produced this radical work.”
Morsi did, however, note “the Egyptian government is responsible to protect private and public properties and diplomatic missions in addition to embassy headquarters of various countries.”
During a phone call with U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday, the Egyptian president “expressed his condolences for the tragic loss of American life in Libya and emphasized that Egypt would honor its obligation to ensure the safety of American personnel,” a White House statement related.