As a wave of anti-American riots erupts across the Islamic world... Muslims' U.S. flag burning protests spread to Britain



Two people arrested at American embassy

The demonstrators shouted 'burn burn USA' as a U.S. flag was set alight



Holding banners and signs, including slogans such as 'Islam will dominate the world', the group also set fire to an Israeli flag

Before being dispersed at 4.30pm 150 people marched through the street with some calling for sharia law



The terrifying tide of violent protests sweeping the Islamic world over an anti-Muslim film hit London yesterday.

Elsewhere British diplomats were in fear for their lives, with staff at the embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, locking themselves in as 5,000 angry demonstrators raged and lit fires in an attack on the German embassy next door.

In London, 150 protesters marched on the US embassy chanting ‘burn burn USA’ as the American flag went up in flames, soon joined by the Israeli flag.



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Wave of hate: Protestors burn the American flag outside the country's embassy in London yesterday Anger: The demonstrators shouted 'burn burn USA' as the American flag went up in flames, in response to a recent movie which portrayed the prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and child abuser

There was a call for sharia law to be imposed over Britain. Police made two arrests.

Among the rabble-rousers was notorious demagogue Anjem Choudary, who has led a number of Islamist groups that were subsequently banned.

Firebrand: Choudary is the former UK leader of the al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK organisation - both of which have been outlawed under the Terrorism Act

It came as riots and demonstrations spread halfway around the globe, from Morocco in the west to Bangladesh in the east. American embassies and symbols were the primary targets for fury.

The wave of hate has been sparked by an obscure film called Innocence of Muslims, which was produced in America and has been criticised for ridiculing Islam and depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a fraud, a womaniser and a madman.

The film was apparently produced by a Coptic Christian living in California, using funds raised by radical American evangelicals and Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Since clips were shown on Arab television it has provoked ever-growing outrage, including the murder in Libya on Tuesday of the US ambassador.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made clear that ‘the United States government had absolutely nothing to do’ with the video. British diplomats were dragged into the protests after demonstrators stormed the German embassy next door in the Sudanese capital, burning a car and rubbish bins.

The German embassy is believed to have attracted particular ire because Sudan’s foreign ministry had criticised the country for allowing a protest last month by right-wing activists carrying caricatures of the Prophet.

There were no reports of British casualties in Khartoum.



In violence elsewhere, the number of dead and wounded grew. In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli police began shooting, killing one man, after a mob set fire to a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise and an American restaurant. Another 25 were wounded in the chaos.

Fury: Protesters on the road leading to the US embassy near Tahrir Square in Cairo

Too young: A boy holds a toy gun during a protest about a film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh near Sidon, Lebanon,

Rage of the mob: Muslims burn an American flag in Dhaka, Bangladesh as they shout slogans during a protest in front of National Press Club

And there was anxiety for the safety of Pope Benedict, who had arrived in the Lebanese capital Beirut yesterday for a three-day visit.

In Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, 2,000 protesters set off for the US embassy, only to be stopped short by national security forces firing live rounds, killing one man and leaving 15 injured.

In the Tunisian capital Tunis, several thousand demonstrators threw stones at the US embassy and set fire to cars, before being fought off with tear gas and gunfire. Three were reportedly killed.

Hate preacher: The former solicitor, holding microphone, joined rallied around 150 hard-line Islamists in a march to the mission in Grosvenor Square this afternoon

In Cairo, Egypt, the mob was kept clear of the local American mission by riot police, instead protesting in Tahrir Square. The Muslim half of Jerusalem witnessed a mob of 400 marching towards the US consulate hurling bottles, but they were repelled by police.

In Damascus, Syria, a 200-strong crowd demonstrated outside the US embassy – although it was abandoned in February because of the country’s bloody civil war.