December 10, 2017 8:18 PM

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Jerusalem: Protests erupt outside US Embassies in Lebanon and Indonesia

About 10,000 Indonesians have rallied outside the US Embassy in Jakarta in support of Palestinians and denouncing President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The protesters are carrying banners reading US Embassy, Gets Out from Al Quds, ''Free Jerusalem and Palestinians" and We are with the Palestinians." Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.<br/><br/>Today's protest, organized by the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, was the second since Trump's decision on Thursday.<br/><br/>President Joko Jokowi Widodo has strongly condemned Trump's move, which he described as a violation of UN resolutions.<br/><br/>Indonesia, as the world's most populous Muslim nation, has long been a strong supporter of Palestinians and has no diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. <br/><br/>There have been violent clashes near the US embassy in Lebanon, in the latest protest against President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to force back flag-waving protesters close to the embassy complex north of the capital, Beirut. The protesters threw stones and set fires in the street close to the embassy in the Awkar district. The security forces had barricaded the main road leading to the large complex. Local media reported that some protesters had tried to break through the entrance to the compound, climbing barbed wire.<br/>The demonstrators, many wearing black and white scarves, chanted slogans denouncing Mr Trump. <br/>Lebanon Communist Party leader, Hanna Gharib, told the protesters the US was the enemy of Palestine.<br/><br/>Arab Foreign Ministers have called on the United States to rescind its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and for the international community to recognise a Palestinian state. In a resolution after an emergency meeting in Cairo, Arab League member ministers said the US had withdrawn itself as a sponsor and broker of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with its controversial move. The ministers met at the league's headquarters in Cairo yesterday to formulate a response to the US decision, which has been roundly criticised in the Arab world and internationally. <br/><br/>They also said they would head to the United Nations Security Council for a resolution condemning the US decision as a violation of international law. <br/>Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit told the ministers at the beginning of the meeting that the move by US President Donald Trump is denounced and condemned. The decision has sparked protests and clashes in Palestinian territories since Trump announced the decision on Wednesday. It drew criticism from every other member of the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Friday.<br/><br/>Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas has cancelled a scheduled meeting the US Vice President Mike Pence in Ramallah later this month.<br/><br/>Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan today said the decisions made at the approaching meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will show that U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital will not be easy to implement. A spokesman for Erdogan on Wednesday had announced that the OIC would hold an urgent meeting in Turkey on Dec. 13 to coordinate a response to the decision by the United States.<br/>The OIC, established in 1969, consists of 57 member states with a Muslim majority or a large Muslim population.

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