The US defense department deployed additional troops to US embassies and other diplomatic compounds on Monday to "protect personnel and property," ahead of what experts say could be many more days of anti-US protests across the world.
Protests have taken place in at least 20 nations, now including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, since last week in reaction to an American film, which mocks the Prophet Mohammad. The film was made privately in the US by several California-based men tied to an extremist, anti-Islamic, Coptic Christian movement. The film was reported by Egyptian media last week, casting off its obscurity and inciting mass protests by Muslims in cities across the world.
New protests broke out on Monday:
- In Indonesian, hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta before police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
- In Afghanistan thousands of protesters took to the streets in Kabul, setting fire to cars and shops and throwing stones at police. About 800 demonstrators clashed with security forces outside a U.S. military base, Camp Phoenix, shouting, "Death to those people who have made a film and insulted our Prophet."
- At least one protester was killed Monday when police clashed with hundreds of protesters at a demonstration in the city of Wari in northwest Pakistan.
Click here for a detailed list of protests happening around the world today.
The Pentagon announced Monday, that it had "deployed forces to a number of areas in the region."
"I suspect that...these demonstrations are likely to continue over the next few days, if not longer," said Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta.
