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Tunisians Unite Against Video But Differ on Violent Response

Mischa Benoit-Lavelle speaks with Tunisians at the scene of Friday's assault on the US embassy in Tunis set off by an anti-Islamic video. Some protesters blamed the US for the video and even some police officers sympathized with the protesters' violent reaction. Others claimed the government hadn't done enough to corral the protests.
Tunisian protesters break into the US embassy in Tunis during a protest against a film mocking Islam on September 14, 2012. The demonstrators, acting aggressively, managed to clamber over one of the walls round the mission, near the car park where several vehicles had been set ablaze, the photographer said. AFP PHOTO/FETHI BELAID        (Photo credit should read FETHI BELAID/AFP/GettyImages)

TUNIS – As images of the black smoke rising from the US embassy and news of deaths circulated in the Tunisian media, shock and dismay spread with them.

Amina el-Mahdhi, a young woman in her twenties who works for the International Federation of Human Rights, was driving down the highway that connects downtown Tunis to the suburb of La Goulette when she first saw the column of smoke and heard on the radio where it was coming from.

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