• Shots fired in Afghan protests over Koran burning, US embassy on lockdown
Several people were wounded on Wednesday, witnesses said, when shots were fired as hundreds of angry Afghans gathered in a second day of violent clashes after copies of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, were burned at NATO’s main base in Afghanistan.
Reuters witnesses said the shots were fired into demonstrators when they charged at police lines and smashed car windows. It appeared police had fired the shots but there was no immediate confirmation from Afghan security forces.
Protesters shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to (President Hamid) Karzai” in a large demonstration on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul. A second rally had begun in another area of the city, Reuters witnesses said.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said on Wednesday its staff were on lockdown and all travel was suspended amid violent protests across the capital over the burning of Korans at NATO’s main base in Afghanistan.
“When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents,” said Ajmal, an 18-year-old protester in Kabul, where dozens of protesters charged through police barriers.
Afghan media said demonstrations had also erupted in the western city of Herat, usually one of the more stable areas in a country devastated by three decades of conflict.
In Kabul, protesters smashed car windows while police fired water cannon in a bid to disperse the angry crowd which had blocked a major road.
The U.S. government and the U.S. commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan apologised on Tuesday after Afghan labourers found charred copies of the Koran while collecting rubbish at the sprawling Bagram Airbase about an hour’s drive north of Kabul.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued an apology for “inappropriate treatment” of copies of the Koran at the base to try to contain fury over the incident — a public relations disaster for Washington as it tries to pacify the country ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
(via warriorsrise)
