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Hundreds In London Anti-Islam Film Protest

Around 300 people have been protesting outside the US Embassy in London as demonstrations over an American-made anti-Islam film spread across Europe.

The crowd - many associated with the hardline Hizb ut-Tahrir group - shouted slogans and held placards saying, "America - get out of Muslim lands".

The gathering, mostly men but including some women and children, listened to speakers condemning the controversial film, US foreign policy and "oppression" of Muslims.

There was a low-key police presence and protesters were kept within a controlled area by barriers.

The Conservatives pledged to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has branches in dozens of countries and seeks to establish a unified Islamic caliphate in the Arab world, before the last election.

Last year the government's counter-terrorism watchdog said in a report to parliament that he could see no reason for the group to be banned.

On Saturday hundreds of people took to the streets of Antwerp, Belgium, and gathered outside the US embassy in Paris, France, in protest at the film. There were police scuffles and several arrests.

Riot police clashed on the same day with about 200 protesters at the US consulate in Sydney, Australia.

As the wave of unrest spread, non-essential US government personnel were ordered to evacuate Sudan and Tunisia following embassy attacks over the anti-Islam video.

It came after Sudan rejected a US request to send special forces to protect its Khartoum embassy.

Innocence of Muslims, which was produced in the United States and portrays Mohammed as a fraud, womaniser, homosexual and madman, has caused furious demonstrations worldwide - some of which have turned violent.

The US ambassador to Libya was killed in one, and demonstrators have died in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.

So far this weekend, Muslims have taken to the streets in more than 20 countries from the Middle East to south-east Asia, with Israel, Indonesia and the Maldives among them.

Deadly clashes erupted in several places, protesters in Sudan and Tunisia tried to storm Western embassies, an American fast-food restaurant was set ablaze in Lebanon, and international peacekeepers were attacked in the Sinai.

A 14-minute excerpt from the film was described by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton as "an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with".

President Barack Obama has urged Americans not to be disheartened by images of anti-US violence, expressing confidence the ideals of freedom America stands for would ultimately prevail.