Egypt Islamists call for protests after insult film
CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday called for nationwide protests Friday after a film deemed offensive to Islam sparked a deadly attack in Libya and furious protests in Cairo.
The Brotherhood calls "for peaceful protests on Friday outside all the main mosques in all of Egypt's provinces to denounce offences to religion and to the Prophet," the Muslim Brotherhood's Secretary General Mahmud Hussein said in a statement.
He also urged all "national forces to join the protests."
The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohamed Morsi emerged, is the largest and most organised political force in the country.
The call for protests comes after a film portraying the life of the Prophet Mohammed, which touches on themes of paedophilia and homosexuality, sparked a deadly attack in Libya that left America's ambassador Chris Stevens and three American officials dead.
The film was produced by Israeli-American Sam Bacile, according to the Wall Street Journal, but Egyptian media say that some Egyptian Copts living in the US were involved in the production.