Ex-convict linked to anti-Islam film questioned as protests go global

LOS ANGELES/SYDNEY: As a wave protests spread worldwide against an anti-Islam film posted on the Internet, US sheriffs in California took a man linked to the provocative video for questioning on Saturday.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, voluntarily left his home in the early hours of Saturday morning for the meeting in a sheriff’s station in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
Nakoula, who has denied involvement in the film in a phone call to his Coptic Christian bishop, was led out of his home by several sheriff’s deputies, his face shielded by a scarf, hat and sunglasses.
“He will be interviewed by federal probation officers,” Whitmore said, adding that Nakoula had not been placed under arrest. “He was never put in handcuffs... It was all voluntary.”
Nakoula, who has denied involvement in the film in a phone call to his Coptic Christian bishop, was led out of his home by several sheriff’s deputies, his face shielded by a scarf, hat and sunglasses.
Furious protests targeting symbols of US influence flared in cities across the Muslim world on Friday in retaliation for a crude film made in the United States.
At least six protesters have died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan in similar protests against the film, with police there battling to defend American missions from mobs of stone-throwers.
The crudely made 13-minute English-language video, which was filmed in California and circulated on the Internet under several titles including “Innocence of Muslims,” mocks Prophet Muhammad (praise be upon him).
The film sparked a violent protest at the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi during which the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed on Tuesday. Protests have spread to other countries across the Muslim world.
Nakoula, whose name has been widely linked to the film in media reports, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2010 and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, to be followed by five years on supervised probation, court documents showed.

Protests spread to Australia
In the latest offshoot of the anti-Islam film, protesters in Sydney, Australia, tried to enter the building housing the US consulate on Saturday, prompting clashes with police.
Bottles, shoes and other objects were hurled during the clashes with police which resulted in eight arrests, with six police officers injured as the unexpected protest brought parts of the city to a standstill.
“Police stopped the group attempting to enter the MLC center that houses the American consulate,” police superintendent Mark Walton told reporters of the clash, which left some protesters weeping from the impact of the spray.
In Sydney, Saturday shoppers looked on in surprise as protesters shouted “Down, down USA” and waved banners such as “Behead all those who insult the prophet” and “Obama, Obama, we love Osama.”
“We are sick and tired of everyone mocking our beloved prophet,” protester Houda Dib told AFP, as the crowd of about 500 gathered outside the US consulate.
“They have no right to mock our prophet. We don’t go around mocking anyone’s religion.”
Demonstrators were pushed back from the steps outside the consulate by police, who then used capsicum (pepper) spray, provoking anger among some in the crowd, many of whom had brought their children with them.
“They were aggravating the situation by pushing our brothers,” Dib said. “This is supposed to be a peaceful protest.”
But police said while there were peaceful elements in the crowd, others had a different agenda.
“There were elements of the group that were... aggressive, and violent at times and came into conflict with police,” said Walton.
The protesters later moved several blocks away to Hyde Park, where at least one speaker called for calm, saying the aim of their protest — which some demonstrators said they had learned about from Facebook — was to send a message.
“We are here for the sake of our God,” he said. “The message is clear, you cannot mock (the prophet).”
But further clashes broke out with police before the crowd eventually dispersed.
Two police cars were also damaged in the protest which saw some 150 police deployed to the central business district.

Deaths linked to protests
In Khartoum, Sudan, police say two protesters were killed in a traffic accident during chaotic demonstrations outside the US Embassy, bringing the total killed in a wave of protests across the Muslim world against an anti-Islam film to at least five.
Two demonstrators died in Tunisia during Friday’s violence and another was killed in Lebanon. Egyptian police have not confirmed reports of the death of another protester in Cairo.
The Sudanese police official said Saturday on state radio that the accident outside the embassy, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, was “unintentional.” He did not elaborate.
He said 6,000 participated in the protests. Demonstrators stormed the German Embassy before moving on in buses to the US Embassy, where police used tear gas to stop them scaling the walls.

— From wire agency reports