Updated: 17/09/12 : 05:06:11
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World :: Hizbollah Boss Urges More Prophet Protests

The head of Hezbollah has called for days of protests in Lebanon over a video mocking the Prophet Mohammed, saying that the US must be held accountable for creating "strife" between Muslims and Christians.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the Shi'ite militant group is organising five days of demonstrations across the country this week, starting from today in the capital Beirut.

He said protesters around the world should not only "express anger" at US embassies but urge leaders to act, and called for an international agreement making it illegal to attack any divine religion.

In a televised speech, Mr Nasrallah told his followers: "We should not only express our anger at an American embassy here or there. We should tell our rulers in the Arab and Muslim world that it is 'your responsibility in the first place' and since you officially represent the governments and states of the Muslim world you should impose on the United States, Europe and the whole world that our prophet, our Quran and our holy places and honour of our Prophet be respected."

 The video Innocence Of Muslims, which was produced in US and portrays the prophet as a fraud, womaniser, homosexual and madman, has caused furious demonstrations worldwide since it was published on the internet. The US government has condemned the film.

The protests began on Tuesday last week when people climbed the US Embassy walls in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and tore down the American flag from a pole in the courtyard.

After days of anti-American violence, the US has urged vigilance and Western embassies across the world are on high alert as protests - from London to Lahore - continued over the weekend.

On Sunday, around 350 people chanted slogans at a rally outside the US embassy in London, a small group of protesters burned a US flag outside the embassy in Istanbul and in Pakistan there were protests in more than a dozen cities.

 One person was killed when unidentified people opened fire at a protest in the southern city of Hyderabad, and five people were injured in clashes with police in Karachi as around 1,000 protesters tried to reach the US consulate, police said.

Germany has followed the US lead and withdrew some staff from its embassy in Sudan, which was stormed on Friday.

Washington ordered non-essential staff to leave its embassy on Saturday after the Khartoum government turned down a US request to send Marines to bolster security.

Non-essential US personnel have also been withdrawn from Tunisia, and Washington urged American citizens to leave the capital Tunis after the embassy there was targeted on Friday.