Violence in Middle East won’t spill over into PH – PNP

A Muslim man waves a red and white Indonesian flag as he and his fellow protesters are engulfed in white smoke of tear gas fired by riot police officers during a protest against American-made film “Innocence of Muslims” that ridicules Islam and depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman, outside the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday. Indonesians angered over the anti-Islam film clashed with police outside the embassy on Monday, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails and burning tires outside the mission. AP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the violent unrest that broke out in some countries in the Middle East over an anti-Islam film will not spread in the country.

“We don’t see any acts of violence in reaction to the video clip happening in our country. We see how open-minded our fellow Muslims are in our country,” Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., PNP Spokesman, told reporters in a press briefing Tuesday.

Violent protests erupted in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen recently over the film “Innocence of Muslims” that reportedly ridiculed important Islamic figures. Several United States diplomats, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed when armed men stormed the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

Cerbo praised Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Mujiv Hataman for urging the Muslims in the country to remain calm.

“No less than the governor of ARMM has called for civility and sobriety to our Muslim brothers,” Cerbo said.

“We see it’s unlikely that what is happening in the Middle East will spill over into our country,” he added.

Cerbo said however that they have beefed up security in embassies, especially the US Embassy on Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Security for diplomats has also remained tight, he said.

Muslims in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, on Monday, held a protest rally condemning the film. About 600 Muslims burned replicas of US and Israeli flags.

Cerbo said that “the good thing was that it was a very peaceful protest rally by our fellow Muslims.”