Politics

Protesters Storm Embassy in Yemen

Protests over an anti-Islamic film, not the drone campaign waged in their country

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As noted on Reason 24/7, violent protests over a poorly-produced film mocking Islam have now spread to the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo released a statement when protests first started there that they condemned "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims." The statement was disavowed by Washington and has now been completely scrubbed from the Embassy website. Nevertheless, while condemning the killing of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other staffers the president noted that "we reject all efforts to denigrate the religious belief of others."

The Yemeni demonstrators are not protesting the still officially mostly secret drone war in their country, so coverage of what's known about that drone operation in U.S. media can continue without worry it'll be condemned by some U.S. officials for inciting a riot in Yemen. At least for now.