Salafist Protestors Burn U.S. Flags in Morocco's Sale

Hundreds of Salafists burned U.S. flags in Morocco after Friday prayers in protest over a U.S.-made film that mocks Islam and has sparked unrest in several Arab countries, an Agence France Presse photographer reported.

The protest took place after weekly prayers at a mosque in the poor Rahma neighbourhood of Sale, twin town to the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Around 200 of the hardline Islamists gathered, shouting anti-U.S. slogans including "American satan," before trampling on two U.S. flags and then ripping them up and setting them ablaze.

The security forces were not in evidence.

Anti-American protests have spread across the Arab world and to many Muslim-majority countries following the spread on the Internet of the amateur American-made video called "Innocence of Muslims."

The film, in which actors have strong American accents, and which portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent, also pokes fun at the Prophet Mohammed and touches on the themes of paedophilia and homosexuality.

Between 300 and 400 Muslim activists gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Morocco's largest city Casablanca on Wednesday, amid a heavy police presence, protesting against the film and shouting anti-U.S. slogans.