U.S. embassies around the world are being targeted by angry protesters over an anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," resulting in the deaths of at least three people in Tunis, Tunisia, on Friday according to Reuters.
Hundreds of protesters still managed to ransack the U.S. embassy in the city. Another person died in Khartoum, Sudan, where thousands of protesters also broke through into the embassy, as another Reuters report indicated.
Here's the latest available information on the demonstrations.
* Four Americans died in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday, and shortly after Ambassador Chris Stevens and Information Management Officer Sean Smith were quickly identified among the dead. On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named the two security personnel who died, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty in a statement posted on the State Department website.
* Woods was a Navy SEAL and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, a registered nurse, and a paramedic who had been stationed in Central America and in the Middle East for embassy duties. Doherty was also a former Navy SEAL and paramedic.
* Clinton and President Barack Obama were reported by the AP to have been on hand at Andrews Air Force Base to honor Stevens, Smith, Doherty, and Woods, whose remains were returned to the U.S. on Friday.
* The German embassy was also overrun by demonstrators in Khartoum, Sudan, on Friday in widening anti-Western protest affecting cities across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
* The U.S. State Department Twitter feed noted a large demonstration at Nouakchott, Mauritania, at BMCI bank, and noted that American citizens "urged to avoid + area around U.S. Embassy."
* The embassy in Tunis was reportedly set on fire, as was the nearby closed American School. Riot police managed to force protesters to leave and set off a cordon around the compound.
* An AP report indicated that an Egyptian protester died as a result of wounds from rubber bullets. Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in Cairo for the past several days near the U.S. Embassy.
* In Bangladesh, 1,000 Islamists attempted a march on the U.S. embassy in Dhaka, but were stopped by security forces. There were no reports of violence in that protest, though the Khelafat Andolon group raised fists and changed anti-U.S. slogans, according to Reuters.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
