ANTI-PROPHET MUHAMMED FILM

ANTI-PROPHET MUHAMMED FILM

Muslim protesters pelted stones and footwear at the US consulate in Chennai on Friday. A rally protesting the depiction of Prophet Mohammed in a movie turned violent near the consulate. Window panes of the inquiry counter and a police booth near the entrance of the consulate were damaged. Police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters. Twenty-five people suffered minor injuries. India is likely to ban on Internet a controversial film deemed offensive to Islam that has sparked anti-US protests. The home ministry has forwarded a request of the Jammu and Kashmir government to block all webpages where the film is available to director general of Computer Emergency Response Team India for urgent action. 

"The DG CERT-In is looking into the matter and in all probability the webpages will be blocked soon," a home ministry official said today. Angered by the anti-Islam film, protesters stormed the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi in Libya on Tuesday, killing American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. There was similar attack on the US embassy in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Tuesday night. Protesters on Thursday stormed the US embassy compound in Yemen capital Sanaa and burned the American flag. Government has already beefed up security at US embassy here and four of its consulates -- Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. The five US diplomatic missions are considered 'high risk' category buildings and are being provided round-the- clock security including monitoring of ingress and egress of every individual.

Prof. John Kurakar