CAIRO: The Egyptian government has called on its citizens to not blame the United States government for the recent film portraying Islam's Prophet Mohamed as a pedophile, violence and homosexual. On Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Egyptian protesters took down the American flag at the US Embassy in Cairo, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said the US government should not be blamed for the film made by an Israeli-American that insulted Muslims globally. He did however, urge the US government to take action against the film's producers and the director. “What happened at the US embassy in Cairo is regrettable and rejected by all Egyptian people and cannot be justified, especially if we consider that the people who produced this low film have no relation to the (U.S.) government,” Qandil said on Wednesday, reading out a statement. “We ask the American government to take a firm position toward this film's producers within the framework of international charters that criminalise acts that stir strife on the basis of race, colour or religion,” he added. “The film, clips of which are available on the social website YouTube, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, showing him having sex and calling for massacres," The Associated Press reported. The protesters had demanded the expulsion of the American Ambassador to Egypt, the Sheikh of al-Azhar and the Grand Mufti for their “inadequate response" to the film and the crisis. “Islam does not censor opinions, but refuses the freedom to violate the beliefs of faith," said a statement from Egypt's Ministry of Endowments in response to the crisis. In Egypt, protesters climbed the US Embassy's wall and took down the American flag, replacing it with an Islamic flag that read: “There is no God but God and Mohamed is His Messenger." While the Egyptian protesters remained nonviolent, in Libya's Benghazi, violent attacks took place against the American consulate in the city, which left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American staffers dead.
