CAIRO -- About a dozen protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt Tuesday and replaced the American flag with a black Islamist flag to protest a film they say attacks Islam??s prophet, Muhammad.
Hours later, armed men in eastern Libya stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and set it on fire, said Wanis al-Sharef, an interior ministry official.
A Libyan security official told the Associated Press that one American was shot dead and another was wounded in the attack.
Witnesses said the attack in Libya left much of the consulate burned, and U.S. officials told the AP that no Americans were reported harmed in the assaults.
The attack in Cairo came after as many as 2,000 protesters marched on the U.S. Embassy near Tahrir Square, where Egyptians last year protested to force longtime president Hosni Mubarak from power.
" Their ambassador must leave," the crowd chanted. It appeared the crowd was angry at a film produced in the USA that has been reported on by Egyptian media. Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Christian in the USA known for anti-Islam views, told the AP he was promoting the video on his website and TV stations.
About 20 protesters climbed the embassy walls, and several went into the courtyard and took down the flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried and failed to burn it so they tore it apart.
The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with a Muslim declaration of faith similar to the banner used by al-Qaeda. Some shouted, "We are all Osama," referring to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Dozens of riot police arrived but did not stop protesters. A group of women in black veils and robes that left only their eyes exposed chanted, "Worshipers of the Cross, leave the Prophet Muhammad alone."
By midnight, the crowd had dwindled. A senior Egyptian security official at the embassy area said authorities allowed the protest because it was "peaceful." When they started climbing the walls, he called for more troops, he said, denying that the protesters stormed the embassy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
A 14-minute trailer of Sadek's movie, posted on the social website YouTube, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the attacks and said Egyptian police had removed the protesters. Only a few staffers were inside the embassy when it was attacked, she said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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