Riot police tried to disperse protesters in Kabul on Monday.
[h=6]Omar Sobhani/Reuters[/h]Hundreds of protesters gathered to denounce an anti-Islam film in Kabul on Monday.
[h=6]Omar Sobhani/Reuters[/h]An Afghan protester shouted slogans.
KABUL — Hundreds of Afghans burned tires and pelted police and buildings with stones on a thoroughfare leading east out of Kabul on Monday in the first significant spasm of violence in Afghanistan over an anti-Islam film that has inflamed mobs in other parts of the Muslim world.
The outburst followed demonstrations and violence in around 20 countries since last Tuesday when the American ambassador in Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in an attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi as protests spread from neighboring Egypt.
In Indonesia, news reports said, police firing tear gas and water cannons on Monday moved against hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside the American Embassy in Jakarta to register opposition to the film, which many Muslims regard as denigrating the Prophet Muhammad. Some protesters set fire to an American flag while others hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails and burned tires. In Afghanistan on Monday, as in other parts of the world, most of the protesters were young men. The police here responded in force to quell the rioting. Scores of regular officers and riot police wearing helmets and protected by shields battled groups of young men throughout the morning, trying to keep the groups of demonstrators from moving toward the center of Kabul.
The protests on Jalalabad Road were taking place near a large American base, Camp Phoenix. But the NATO-led coalition said the base had not been targeted by the protesters and was so far unaffected by the violence.
Ayub Salangi, Kabul’s police chief, said about 50 policemen had sustained light wounds trying to keep the protesters in check. He, too, was left with some bruises and cuts after being hit by flying stones when he went to the scene of the violence in the morning.
At least two police cars were set ablaze, he said. By late morning, other smoldering vehicles could be seen along the road, as well as burning shipping containers and piles of flaming tires. Plumes of black smoke were visible from the center of the city.
Neither Mr. Salangi nor other officials could offer an estimate of the crowd’s size, apart from saying that hundreds of people were taking part in the protest. Mr. Salangi described them as “emotional” young men who were trying to press toward downtown Kabul in about four or five separate groups.
Afghanistan has seen some sporadic protests since word of the American-made movie that mocks the Prophet Muhammad began circulating last week. But until Monday, the protests had been short-lived and largely peaceful.
The Afghan government has appeared eager to avoid a repeat of the violent and deadly protests that swept the country earlier this year over the burning of Korans by American soldiers at a base north of Kabul. As news of the protests spread around the world, Afghan officials across the country gathered elders and religious leaders and told them that it was fine to speak out against the movie, but that they should urge people to stay calm and avoid violence.
The government also asked Internet providers to block sites hosting video, shutting down access to Google, YouTube and Gmail in the process.
