Civil Liberties

Protesters Clash With Police Outside U.S. Embassy in Cairo

Anger about film continues

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Egyptians angry at a film they said was blasphemous to Islam on Friday hurled stones at a line of police in Cairo blocking the route to the U.S. embassy, where demonstrators climbed the walls and tore down the American flag earlier this week.

"God is greatest" and "There is no god but God", one group near the front of the clashes chanted, as police in riot gear fired tear gas and threw stones back in a street leading from Tahrir Square to the embassy nearby.

About 300 people had gathered to protest, some waving flags with religious slogans. State media reported that 224 people had been injured since Wednesday night. The initial protest, in which the embassy walls were scaled, took place on Tuesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power, had called for a peaceful nationwide protest against the film on Friday after it sparked demonstrations across the region. Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as blasphemous.