Malaysia's opposition Islamic party staged a noisy protest outside the US embassy Friday, calling for a "holy war" against Israel.
Scuffles broke out after about 150 members of the youth wing of the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) ignored orders from police to disperse.
"Destroy Israel! To hell with America!" they chanted.
The presence of a dozen riot police armed with batons and shields failed to intimidate the protesters.
An attempt by a policeman to handcuff a prone demonstrator nearly turned violent when fellow protesters pushed the officer away. The crowd later dispersed peacefully.
Mahfuz Omar, PAS youth chief, told reporters that Muslim countries including Malaysia should send their military forces to fight Israel.
"We call for a jihad (holy war) against Israel," he said.
"The Muslim world is not afraid of America and Israel. We urge Malaysia to send troops and weapons to defend our fellow Muslim brothers who are being slaughtered."
Mahfuz and two other PAS leaders then entered the embassy to hand in a memorandum which criticized the US "as the world's policeman" for failing to stop the killing of Palestinians – KUALA LAMPUR (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
