KUALA LUMPUR: Muslims held demonstrations across Malaysia on Friday, calling for the United States to prevent distribution of an anti-Islam film.
Violent protests that began in Egypt and Libya on Tuesday over the amateur, privately-produced US movie "Innocence of Muslims" had already spread to several other Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
But Friday marked the first, albeit peaceful, demonstrations in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
They included a group of about 30 people representing various Islamic organisations who marched to the US embassy in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
They handed over a memo to an embassy official calling for the US to take the clip off YouTube, prevent it being released, and to try the filmmakers for "crimes against human rights" and "inciting Muslims".
A crowd also held a demonstration at the Batu Caves, a popular tourist spot outside the capital, and Malaysian media reported another protest in the northern city of Ipoh.
The opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party said protests would be held at other cities around the country but AFP could not immediately confirm how widespread they were. There have been no reports of violence.
Angry demonstrators have stormed the US embassy in Yemen and stoned Washington's mission in Cairo.
- AFP/ck
Violent protests that began in Egypt and Libya on Tuesday over the amateur, privately-produced US movie "Innocence of Muslims" had already spread to several other Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
But Friday marked the first, albeit peaceful, demonstrations in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
They included a group of about 30 people representing various Islamic organisations who marched to the US embassy in the capital Kuala Lumpur.
They handed over a memo to an embassy official calling for the US to take the clip off YouTube, prevent it being released, and to try the filmmakers for "crimes against human rights" and "inciting Muslims".
A crowd also held a demonstration at the Batu Caves, a popular tourist spot outside the capital, and Malaysian media reported another protest in the northern city of Ipoh.
The opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party said protests would be held at other cities around the country but AFP could not immediately confirm how widespread they were. There have been no reports of violence.
Angry demonstrators have stormed the US embassy in Yemen and stoned Washington's mission in Cairo.
- AFP/ck
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