Bedouin in Israel's Negev will hold a protest march on Friday against the anti-Islam movie that has sparked a wave of demonstrations across the Muslim world.
The demonstration, which is slated to leave from the mosques in the city of Rahat and will end in the center of the city, comes against the backdrop of violence in the Arab world, including in Egypt, Yemen and Libya, where U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed on Tuesday. The violence may have been sparked by an anti-Muslim film, "Innocence of Muslims."
The northern branch of the Islamic Movement demonstrated against the film on Thursday afternoon opposite the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, saying that the U.S. government sponsors "little people" who hurt Islam and Muslims.
Zahi Noujidat, a spokesperson for the Islamic Movement, says that the protest is a “clear message to the American government and all those who dare to spread lies, incitement and racism that we will stand strong.”
“We are talking about a people that will not support such a terrible act of harming the prophet of Islam,” Noujidat stated, adding that the U.S. and the West only fan the flames of hate of hatred and racism.”
The protest comes as Egyptian protesters angry at the film hurled stones at a line of police in Cairo blocking their way to the U.S. embassy, which was attacked earlier this week.
Police in riot gear fired tear gas and threw stones back at the demonstrators. A burnt-out car was overturned in the middle of the street which leads to the fortified embassy from Tahrir Square.
Meanwhile, thousands of police are to be deployed from the early hours on Friday morning in sensitive locations around Jerusalem. Police and border police forces will be stationed near the Temple Mount, in an effort to maintain order as Muslims gather there for Friday prayers.
Officers will also be in alleyways of the Old City, other Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem and in areas in which Arab and Jewish neighborhoods meet. Police have vowed to quash any attempt to disturb the peace.
The U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem issued an advisory that the Old City would be off limits to U.S. government personnel today due to the possibility of demonstrations against the film, and advised other Americans to "defer non-essential travel to the Old City" and to be generally careful.
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