- Oct 7, 2011
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In Yemens capital of Sanaa, hundreds of protesters chanting death to America and death to Israel stormed the U.S. Embassy compound and burned the American flag on Thursday.
Yemens president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, quickly apologized to the U.S. and vowed to track down the culprits, just as Libyas president did. Egypts Islamist President Mohammad Morsi, who had been slow to speak out on Tuesdays assault on the embassy in Cairo, promised Thursday that his government would not allow attacks on diplomatic missions.
The crowd in Sanaa swarmed over embassys entrance gate. Men with iron bars smashed the thick, bullet-proof glass windows of the entrance building while others clambered up the wall. Some ripped the embassys sign off the outer wall.
Inside the compound grounds, they brought down the American flag in the courtyard and replaced it with a black banner bearing Islams declaration of faith There is no God but Allah. They did not enter the main building housing the embassys offices, some distance away from the entry reception. Demonstrators set tires ablaze and pelted the compound with rocks.
A thick column of black smoke rose out from inside the embassy compound. Witnesses said the protesters set ablaze a room housing security guards and torched several parked cars.
Yemeni security forces who rushed to the scene fired in the air and used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, driving them out of the compound after about 45 minutes and sealing off the surrounding streets.
The embassy said nobody was harmed. All embassy personnel are safe and accounted for, spokesman Lou Fintor said.
Yemen is home to al-Qaidas most active branch and the United States is the main foreign supporter of the Yemeni governments counterterrorism campaign. The government on Tuesday announced that al-Qaidas No. 2 leader in Yemen was killed in an apparent U.S. airstrike, a major blow to the terror network.
Read more: Protesters storm US Embassy in Yemen | The Daily Caller
