Updated at 6:37 p.m. ET: An anti-Islam film that sparked violent protests in many countries had "nothing to do with" a deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi earlier this month, Libya's president told NBC News.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News' Ann Curry, President Mohamed Magarief discounted claims that the attack was in response to a movie produced in California and available on YouTube. He noted that the assault happened on Sept. 11 and that the video had been available for months before that.

"Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, should have been six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September," he said. "They chose this date, 11th of September to carry a certain message."

---

NYT: Deadly Libya attack a major blow to CIA efforts

Magarief said there were no protesters at the site before the attack, which he noted came in two assaults, first with rocket-propelled grenades on the consulate, then with mortars at a safe house.

The attack took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens, as well as information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

US Ambassador Chris Stevens was 'courageous,' Obama says

Magarief told Curry that based on the accuracy of the assault, he believes the attackers must have had training and experience using the weapons.

"It's a pre-planned act of terrorism," he said, adding that the anti-Islam film had "nothing to do with this attack."

Though Magarief believes the attack was the work of Islamist fundamentalists, he dismisses any notion that Libya is in danger of becoming a theocracy.

“This will never happen,“ he said. “ They don’t have the strength. They don’t have the supporters. They will remain a minority that’s isolated, that will not be accepted by us. And I’m sure Libyans will fight to the last man against seeing this happen in our land.”

'A strong friend'
Magarief said that while Libyans appeared to be behind the attack that "these Libyans do not represent the Libyan people or Libyan population in any sense of the word."

He added: "We consider the United States as a friend, not only a friend, a strong friend, who stood with us in our moment of need."

More than 40 people have been questioned in connection with the incident, the Libyan leader told Curry.

He described Stevens as a "humble and very unique human being" and a "great friend of Libya."

Backlash: Protesting Libyans storm militant compound

The Obama administration initially maintained that the attacks were directly linked to protests over the film. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 16, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said: “What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video.”

However, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney last week said it was "self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack."

Slain ambassador's mom: 'He was trying to do something much bigger'

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said: “There are no words that excuse the killing of innocent” people.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Libya leader to NBC: Film had 'nothing to do with' US Consulate attack
• China brings 1st aircraft carrier into service, joining 9-nation club
• Two baby gorillas rescued in Congo; escalation of smuggling feared
• Taiwanese ships clash with Japanese coast guard over disputed islands
• Robbers try to blow up ATM, but blow up entire bank instead
• Class wars: 'Gate-gate' scandal swamps UK PM
• Religious pilgrimages: a multi-billion dollar industry
• Ancient land of 'Beringia' gets protection from US, Russia
• Stay informed: Sign up for our newsletter

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

WASHINGTON -- An American Coptic Christian activist whose California TV facility was used to make an anti-Islam film that touched off protests across the Muslim world said he was deceived by the film's producer about its inflammatory content. 

In a statement posted on the blog of a prominent American anti-Islamic activist, Joseph Nassralla, founder of a Duarte, California-based group called Media for Christ, said he was a victim of "disinformation and smear" and the film's principal producer had altered its content without his knowledge. 

---

Media for Christ operates a Christian satellite TV station called The Way TV, according to its website and tax return. 

Nassralla said he was contacted last year by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, whom he described as the film's producer, with a plan to make a film about the persecution of Christians in Egypt. 

Nakoula, who has a criminal record for bank fraud and drug offenses, was briefly questioned last weekend by federal authorities about possible probation violations. He was later released and has gone into hiding. 

Nassralla said in his statement that in explaining his film project, Nakoula had said the film would be called "Desert Warrior" and would "examine the culture of the desert and how it is related to what is going on right now." 

The statement was posted on the website Atlasshrugs2000, which is run by Pamela Geller, an activist who has organized anti-Islamic protests and events, including demonstrations opposing construction of an Islamic center near the site of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001. 

Egypt issues arrest warrants for Terry Jones, Coptic Christians over anti-Islam video

There was no way to independently confirm Nassralla's account. 

An attorney representing Nakoula in the investigation by probation officials declined to comment on Nassralla's statement, saying he was aware of the blog post but had not had a chance to discuss it with his client. He said Nakoula or his representatives may issue a statement in the future. 

Actors: 'We were grossly misled'

Nassralla, who spoke at two rallies in 2010 and 2011 organized by Geller, said Nakoula "needed a place to film. So I let him use my facility." 

"That is all I did, and is the full extent of my involvement with this project. Nakoula used my facility for ten days. Media for Christ employees were given a vacation during that time, because Nakoula was using the facility and so there was no work for them. There was only one Media for Christ employee who remained, to answer phones for the ministry," Nassralla said. 

Hezbollah chief makes rare appearance, leads calls for protests over video

There was no sign of activity at the small studios of Media for Christ, located in a nondescript office park behind a Walmart store in suburban Duarte, during two visits last week by a Reuters reporter. 

On both occasions the doors were found locked and knocks went unanswered. A woman who worked at an office next door said she had not seen any employees there in recent days. 

Nassralla said he later discovered that Nakoula, using the name "Sam Bacile," had used Media for Christ's name without his permission to obtain an official permit for making the film.

'We were shocked'
After accounts of the film began circulating in Egypt and other Muslim majority countries, the amateurish production -- which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and a fool -- set off a chain of violent protests and attacks on U.S. and other Western embassies in the Middle East and North Africa. 

In his statement, Nassralla said Nakoula had "filmed his movie not only at my ministry location, but in Nakoula's own home (which reporters located by getting the address from the actors), and in another facility for outside scenes that was included in the permit, Blue Canyon." 

US analysts: Benghazi emerges as key recruiting ground for al-Qaida

Nassralla also said that behind his back, Nakoula had "altered the film without anyone's knowledge, changing its entire focus and dubbing in new dialogue. He edited it." 

"The final product, 'Innocence of Muslims,' bore no resemblance to the film I thought he was making, or the film the actors thought they were creating. We were shocked," Nassralla said. 

In an introduction to Nassralla's statement, Geller said that she had last seen him at an event in June in California, and that now he was being "hunted like an animal for speaking critically about Islam." 

Nassralla "is currently in hiding after multiple death threats from Muslims because of his purported role in producing this video," she said. 

In an exchange of emails with Reuters last weekend, Geller suggested that if Nakoula was arrested, that would represent an attempt to impose strict Islamic Sharia law in the United States. 

"He will not be in prison for fraud or some probation violation, but for blasphemy. This is Shariah enforcement in America," she said. 

In a later email, however, Geller expressed disappointment over Nassralla's account of his dealings with Nakoula. But she added, "That would not make (Nakoula) any less a political prisoner." 

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Killer who targeted sex offenders sentenced to life in prison
• US Muslims walk tightrope, denounce both violence and Islam film
• Comrade killed soldier with rocket launcher, victim's mom says
• How the Romney video leaked: For Carters, it was personal
• Medal peddlers: Thriving Purple Heart market has fans and foes
• Tornado watches for NYC, other areas along East Coast
• Chicago teachers set to vote on proposed contract
• Convicted Ohio killer: I'm too obese to be executed

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

The attack that killed four Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, apparently began as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam film before turning violent, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday.

Rice, appearing in NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said she was citing preliminary information and that the FBI was investigating the Tuesday night attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three others.

---

A wave of protests and violence has swept across the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world over an obscure, amateurish movie called "Innocence of Muslims" that depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a pedophile. Anti-U.S. protests in 20 countries led the Pentagon to dispatch elite Marine antiterrorism teams to Libya and Yemen and to position two Navy warships off Libya's coast.

Meanwhile, the State Department ordered all nonessential U.S. government workers and their families out of Sudan and Tunisia. In Lebanon, protesters torched an American fast-food restaurant. Even as tensions appeared to ease over the weekend, al-Qaida's most active Mideast branch was calling for further attacks on U.S. embassies.

"There's no question, as we've seen in the past with things like 'The Satanic Verses,' with the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, there have been such things that have sparked outrage and anger and this has been the proximate cause of what we've seen," Rice said.

“What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video,” Rice said.

More from "Meet the Press": Israeli PM tries to strike more neutral pose in U.S. election 

Protesters in Cairo had breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy and tore down the American flag.

In Benghazi, Rice told “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, “Opportunistic extremist elements came to the consulate as this was unfolding, they came with heavy weapons, which unfortunately are readily available in post-revolutionary Libya, and it escalated into a much more violent episode.”

Related:

• NYT: Months of turmoil ahead in Arab world, White House fears

• Sudan rejects more Marines at US Embassy

• At least 7 reported killed in protests over anti-Islamic video

• Obama: US has 'profound respect for people of all faiths'

• Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by Feds

There was “no actionable intelligence” that the attack in Benghazi was imminent, Rice said. The attack overwhelmed security in place at the consulate, she said.

Rice’s comments came a day after Libyan President Mohammed Magarief told NBC News that “foreigners” were involved in the planning and execution of the attack.

He expanded on the assertion Sunday, saying on CBS’ "Face the Nation" that about 50 people, not all Libyans, have been arrested in connection with the Benghazi attack, which he said was planned by al-Qaida-linked foreigners, some from Mali and Algeria.

Magarief said there was little doubt the assault was planned rather than a spontaneous reaction to the video, as came on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

He said the security situation in Libya remained "difficult" for Americans, as well as for Libyans. The United States wants the FBI to investigate the consulate attack, but Magarief said it may be too soon to send in investigators.

"It may be better for them to stay away for a little while until we do what we have to do ourselves," he said.

Rice told "Meet the Press" that the U.S. is working with authorities in Libya, which has received $200 million in U.S. aid since 2011, to bring to justice those responsible for the attack.

This article includes reporting by Reuters.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• One year later, what ever happened to Occupy Wall Street?
• Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by Feds
• Obama: US has 'profound respect for people of all faiths'
• 144,000 offshore wind turbines could power East Coast, study says
• 83-year-old held over hit-and-run crash that killed boy, 6
• 'Half of me died with him': Family seeks answers over death of Fla. businessman

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Updated at 3:20 p.m. ET: President Barack Obama on Saturday rejected any denigration of Islam, but insisted there was no excuse for attacks on U.S. embassies as angry protests over an obscure, anti-Muslim film spread to Australia.

"I have made it clear that the United States has a profound respect for people of all faiths," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

"Yet there is never any justification for violence .... There is no excuse for attacks on our embassies and consulates,” he added.

---

Anti-American protests have swept the Muslim world in response to the film, which insults the Prophet Muhammad.

Libya president: 'Foreigners' involved in consulate attack

The death toll as a result of violence during protests in the Middle East and North Africa Friday rose from seven to nine with Tunisian officials saying four people -- rather than two as stated earlier -- died there. Three were killed by gunfire and the other died after being hit by two police cars, a senior hospital official told Reuters.

An attack on the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others this week.

A day after Obama led a somber ceremony marking the return of the bodies of the Americans killed in Libya, Obama acknowledged that a surge of anti-American violence in the Middle East is disturbing.

Related: Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by Feds

The Pentagon had said it was sending Marines to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan, following similar reinforcements to Libya and Yemen. But on Saturday, Sudan rejected the U.S. request to send a platoon the embassy in Khartoum.

"Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guests in the diplomatic corps," Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told SUNA, the state news agency.

Protesters on Friday entered the embassy grounds.

The Libyan attack and theU.S.-directed outrage have raised questions about Obama's handling of the so-called Arab Spring, a series of revolutions that have unseated entrenched authoritarian governments.

Related: At least seven reported killed in protests

The turbulence in the Middle East has had ripples in a tight U.S. presidential election, with Obama's Republican challenger Mitt Romney saying Obama has weakened U.S. authority around the world.

However, Obama repeated a vow to bring the attackers of the U.S. Consulate in Libya to justice. "We will not waver in their pursuit," he said.

The president also said the turmoil should not deter U.S. efforts to support democracy in the region or elsewhere.

"Let us never forget that for every angry mob, there are millions who yearn for the freedom, and dignity, and hope that our flag represents," he said.

The protests over the anti-Islam film, "Innocence of Muslims," continued Saturday, spreading to Australia where authorities seemed taken by surprise as more than 400 demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in Sydney.

Some of the chanting protesters carried placards reading "Behead all those who insult the Prophet."

Several streets, usually thronging with weekend shoppers, were blocked off by police as the protest grew. Police, many wearing anti-riot equipment and some on horseback, used dogs and chemical sprays as they tried to control the protest.

Reuters Television pictures showed one policeman with a head injury being led away by colleagues. Police later said six officers had been injured and eight protesters arrested. A spokesman for paramedics said there were no serious injuries. 

A Muslim leader addressed the protesters in a park, calling for calm.

In Egypt, the interior minister said he would restore calm after a 35-year-old protester was killed and dozens of people were injured in clashes overnight.

The authorities closed the street leading to the U.S. Embassy where the demonstrators had spent four days throwing rocks and petrol bombs at police.

A Reuters reporter saw police push several young men into trucks. Two of the men looked bruised and one was stripped down to his underwear.

Police formed cordons on roads into Tahrir Square near the U.S. mission and plain-clothes officers wielding sticks frisked passers-by. The square, the focus of last year's popular uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, was strewn with garbage and a torched vehicle was towed away.

"Our presence here is to clear the square of people who are breaking the law," Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal el-Din said as he inspected the area. "We must preserve the square as a symbol of the revolution. That is the aim of our operation."

He said measures would be taken to ensure "those breaking the law" do not return.

The protesters said they wanted to expel the U.S. ambassador to punish Washington over the low-budget film. It portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and religious fake. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the film "disgusting and reprehensible."

Egypt's state news agency said 27 people were injured on Friday, which suggests more than 250 people have been hurt in the clashes since Tuesday, when protesters climbed the embassy's walls and tore down an American flag.

President Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt's first freely elected leader, has to strike a delicate balance, fulfilling a pledge to protect the embassy of a major aid donor while delivering a robust line against the film to satisfy his Islamist backers.

In Sinai, militants attacked an international observer base close to the borders of Israel and Gaza, a witness and a security source said. Two Colombian soldiers were wounded, an official from the observer force said.

Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous. The film has provoked outrage across the Middle East and led to the storming of several U.S. missions in the region.

In Libya, authorities said they had made four arrests in the investigation into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Morsi has condemned the film, rejected violence and promised to protect diplomatic missions. His cabinet said Washington was not to blame for the film but urged the United States to take legal action against those insulting religion.

The United States has a large embassy in Cairo, partly because of a vast aid program that began after Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Washington gives $1.3 billion in aid a year to Egypt's army plus additional funds for government.

In Yemen, al Qaida urged Muslims on Saturday to step up protests and kill U.S. diplomats in Muslim countries and called the film denigrating Muhammad another chapter in the "crusader wars" against Islam.

"Whoever comes across America's ambassadors or emissaries should follow the example of Omar al-Mukhtar's descendants (Libyans), who killed the American ambassador," Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said.

"Let the step of kicking out the embassies be a step towards liberating Muslim countries from the American hegemony," it said in a statement posted on a website.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Lebanese hope pope can 'bring peace' to the region
• Americans killed in US consulate attack honored at Andrews
• NBC's Jim Maceda answers questions about the Mideast protests
• 'Super typhoon' heading for Okinawa, South Korea
• Guatemalan eruption sparks massive evacuation order
• Photos: It's already Christmas for factories in China

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

Updated at 10 a.m. ET: A man purported to be a filmmaker involved with the anti-Islam video sparking violent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was escorted by deputies from his Cerritos, Calif., home shortly after midnight Saturday morning, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

Media and law enforcement had been staking out the home at the end of a cul de sac in the Southern California city for about 48 hours when Nakoula Besseley Nakoula emerged wearing a coat, hat, scarf and glasses.

---

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed to NBCLA that Nakoula, 55, was taken to the Cerritos sheriff’s station for interviewing by federal probation officers aimed at determining whether he violated the terms of his 5-year probation by uploading a video to the Internet.

"We are in an assist mode," he said.

Whitmore added that Nakoula, who has denied involvement in the film in a phone call to his Coptic Christian bishop, agreed to the interview prior to the deputies arriving at his home, that the move was "entirely voluntary" and the man was "very cooperative."

Deputies pulled up to the home around midnight, according to witnesses. The group left the home through the side gate because the front door was not working, Whitmore said. NBCLA went to the home earlier this week and saw the front door was missing a knob.

International protesters have cited the 15-minute video posted on the Internet called "The Innocence of Muslims" as a catalyst for their demonstrations in countries such as Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.

Read more on NBCLosAngeles.com

They say the piece is insulting to their religion as it depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a child molester and a thug. In Islam, all images of Muhammad are prohibited, let alone negative ones.

Nakoula has told the Associated Press he was not the director on the film, but rather a logistics manager. The film's mystery producer has been said to go by the pseudonym Sam Bacile.

A telephone number said to belong to Bacile, given to Reuters by U.S.-based Coptic Christian activist Morris Sadek who said he had promoted the film, was later traced back to a person who shares the Nakoula residence. 

Nakoula reportedly requested deputies step up patrols around his home Wednesday after media descended on the area. At the time, Whitmore told reporters there had been no disturbance or crime.

Related: At least 7 reported killed in protests over anti-Islamic video
Related: Two US troops killed at Afghan camp where Prince Harry is based

Early reports suggested the film prompted the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that killed 14 people, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, two former Navy SEALS who were providing security for Stevens, and information management officer Sean Smith.

But U.S. officials are also probing the possibility that Wednesday’s attack was planned and timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A federal grand jury indictment in February 2009 charged Nakoula in an alleged bank fraud conspiracy. The indictment accused him and others of fraudulently obtaining the identities and Social Security numbers of bank customers at Wells Fargo and withdrawing $860 from bank branches in Cerritos, Artesia and Norwalk.

Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, but was released early. The terms of his parole included being barred from assuming aliases and using computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer. 

Many records in the case remain sealed, but prosecutors sought a longer prison term and noted that he misused some of his own relatives' identities to open 600 fraudulent credit accounts.

Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons confirmed that Nakoula also served a year in jail after pleading guilty to possession of meth with the intent to manufacture in 1997.

U.S. officials have said authorities were not investigating the film project itself, and that even if it was inflammatory or led to violence, simply producing it cannot be considered a crime in the United States, which has strong free speech laws. 

It could be difficult to establish a probation violation case against Nakoula. In the federal court system, the conditions of supervised release are geared toward the offense for which a defendant was found guilty and imprisoned.

In Nakoula's case, the offense was bank fraud. His no contest plea was to charges of setting up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, depositing checks from those accounts into other phony accounts and then withdrawing the illicit funds from ATM machines.

While it was unclear what might have provoked authorities' interest, the filmmaker's use of a false identity and his access to the Internet through computers could be at issue, according to experts in cyber law and the federal probation system. Nakoula, who told the AP that he was logistics manager for the film, was under requirements to provide authorities with records of all his bank and business accounts. 

There are indications that "Innocence of Muslims" may have already been under way as a film project when Nakoula was arrested. A casting call for actors and crew for a film called "Desert Warrior" ran in Backstage magazine, based in Los Angeles and New York, in May and June 2009. The casting call described the film project as a "historical Arabian Desert adventure" and listed a "Sam Bassiel" as producer.

One notice identified "Pharaoh Voice Inc."as the film's production company. California state records show Pharaoh Voice was incorporated in September 2007 by a "Youssef M. Basseley." The principal address for Pharaoh Voice in Hawaiian Gardens, a southern California community, is the same location where Nakoula lived until 2008, according to state records.

During an interview with AP, Nakoula denied that he was Sam Bacile, but acknowledged knowing him. 

Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said whether Nakoula is sent back to jail over potential probation violations linked to the film, such as accessing the Internet, was a subjective decision up to an individual judge.

"Federal judges are gods in their own courtrooms, it varies so much in who they are," he said, noting such a move would be based on his conduct not on the content of the film. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Video: Anti-American protests continue in Egypt
• Americans killed in US consulate attack honored at Andrews
• Slide show: Protests rock Mideast, Asia and northeast Africa
• 'Bucket List Bandit' nabbed in Oklahoma traffic stop
• Man pleads guilty to attempted bigamy after wives' Facebook encounter
• Women face stubborn wage gap as wages fall for everyone

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

ANAHEIM, California -- Protesters broke the windows of least a half-dozen storefronts in Anaheim on Tuesday resulting in 24 people being arrested and leaving six injured in the second major clash between police and demonstrators since an officer shot dead an apparently unarmed man.

Mayor Tom Tait had called on Monday for a state and federal review of the shooting of the man, a suspected gang member. 

---

More than 600 demonstrators gathered at City Hall on Tuesday, where officials were holding a regular meeting, police said. 

NBCLosAngeles.com reported that crowds converged on the building at around 4 p.m. (7 p.m. ET) to urge council members to investigate a series of recent officer-involved shootings and reform the city's police force, which residents have accused of racial profiling.

Officials say there have been eight officer-involved shootings in the city this year.

The council chamber reached capacity and police in riot gear blocked access to the meeting, according to NBCLosAngeles.com.

Some protesters threw patio chairs through the windows of a Starbucks, a witness told Reuters. No one in the coffee shop was injured, said Anaheim police spokesman Sergeant Bob Dunn. 

In the same block-long strip mall, at least five other businesses also had windows smashed, a witness said.

Afterward, officers toting shotguns stood guard in front of the storefronts. 

"We are happy to hear from any and all residents," Tate said. "But we will not accept any violent protests, vandalism or arson perpetrated under the guise of public protest."

Dozens of officers wielding night sticks faced off against the demonstrators, who at one point threw water bottles and rocks toward the line. 

More photos: Protests in Anaheim

At least one person was transported to the hospital after being shot in the head with a pepperball, Dunn told NBCLosAngeles.com. No officers were injured.

He said the demonstrations lasted until about 2 a.m., hours after residents gathered outside the city counsel meeting.

Aerial footage showed several fires near the scene of the protest -- one in a trash bin, another near a bus bench.

The tensions flared after police shot and killed a man on Saturday afternoon. 

Two officers had tried to approach three men in an alley who fled, Dunn said earlier this week. The officers followed on foot and one caught up to one suspect, police said. 

The officer shot the man, who police said they later identified as Manuel Diaz, a known gang member. Diaz was not found to have been carrying a gun, police said. 

The Diaz family filed a $50 million wrongful-death lawsuit against the city on Tuesday.

'Transparency is essential'
Police fired pepper pellets at angry residents near the scene of the shooting on Saturday. 

Late on Sunday Anaheim officers tried to stop a car and killed a man who police said fled and opened fire on them during a foot chase. 

He was the fifth person to die in an officer-involved shooting in Anaheim this year.

Tait called for a state and federal probe of the fatal shootings during a news conference Sunday, during which some 70 protesters stormed the lobby.

"Transparency is essential," Tait said Sunday. "The investigation will seek the truth. And whatever the truth is, we will own it."

At least four agencies are involved in or are expected to join the investigation, including the U.S. Attorney's office, the State Attorney General, the Anaheim Police Department's Officer of Internal Affairs and -- as is usual for officer-involved shootings -- the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Anaheim was among six California cities with a population over 100,000 that saw the biggest spikes in violent crime in 2011, according to an analysis of FBI crime data released last month.

Reuters contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• String of security scares at Batman movie screenings
• Miracle baby of the Aurora tragedy
• In Aurora massacre, trial may not shed much light on motive
• S.D. abortion suicide advisory upheld by federal appeals court
• Gunman on UConn campus commits suicide
• Mystery of Utah's 'goat man' is solved
• Day care video shows 9-year-old terrorizing tots

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

 

Police clad in riot gear skirmished with protesters, including Occupy demonstrators, in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday, leaving four officers injured and 17 people arrested. At least one man, who said he was not part of the protest, reported being struck by a rubber bullet, local media said.

A woman who said she was an Occupy member told the Los Angeles Times that protesters attended the monthly “ArtWalk” on Thursday to support those who had previously been arrested for writing on the sidewalk with chalk.

---

The demonstration started at about 8:40 p.m. (11:40 p.m. ET) Thursday, when protesters began taking over the intersection of Fifth and Spring streets, LAPD Officer Karen Rayner said. At times during the first hours of the protest, crowds and police could be seen running from the area. Police ordered the crowd to leave around 11 p.m., and a few skirmishes appeared to break out as officers tried to move the protesters.

Police spokeswoman Rosario Herrera told msnbc.com that protesters threw rocks and bottles at police officers, who responded with baton strikes, rubber bullets and bean bags.

Three police officers had minor injuries while a fourth one suffered a mild concussion, she said. Of the 17 arrests, one was for assault on a police officer and two for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

Read the full story on NBC Los Angeles

'Chalk walk' march
Protesters posted this notice about the demonstration on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon:

"Tonight, #ArtWalk in #DTLA becomes #ChalkWalk! Occupy Los Angeles has had a laughably ridiculous 12 arrests the past 6 weeks for children's sidewalk chalk. Tonight from 7-9pm, occupiers, artists, enthusiasts, rebels, and the intrigued will defend the First Amendment and freedom of speech."

"We were handing out free chalk for freedom of speech," Cheryl Aichele, 34, a member of Occupy L.A. told the LA Times.

Messages written in chalk covered the downtown intersection, including: "You wouldn't shoot your kids for this, why shoot us?" and "Chalk the police."

Police used batons and non-lethal projectiles to get the crowd to leave, the newspaper reported. Demonstrators threw bottles and cans at officers. Some people in the crowd also told fellow protesters to remain peaceful.

A man said he was visiting ArtWalk when he was struck in the ribs with a rubber bullet.

"I was walking down the street and I saw a group of people. I was just here for ArtWalk, I didn't know anything was gonna happen," Charlie Shepherd said.

Occupy LA: Meet Southern California's protesters
Attacks on Chicago police stations, Obama HQ were planned, prosecutors say
Great-grandma: Ready to ‘lose’ my life protesting
‘Life over war’: US veterans return medals at NATO summit
Protesters hit streets for May Day rallies; violence flares in Oakland, Seattle

Skirmishes
Aerial views of the scene showed demonstrators throwing objects at police. A member of the crowd threw a traffic cone at an unmarked police car driving by and some people could be seen dancing in front of police lines.

During the dispersal orders, police told media outlets to stay at least 40 feet away from the standoff between the crowd and officers in riot gear.

The nationwide Occupy movement grew out of contempt for the “1 percent,” and targeted Wall Street, corporate greed and political corruption. Spotted protests have continued after authorities shuttered many of the movement’s encampments late last fall and over the winter.

Occupy LA set up its campsite outside City Hall for about two months last fall before some 1,400 police officers swept demonstrators off the lawn. As many as 500 men, women and children were estimated to have participated in the encampment.

The city council estimates the costs related to Occupy LA could reach $5 million for policing, cleanup and other costs.

Msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Poll: Confidence in organized religion at all-time low
• Analysis: Paterno could have been indicted if he had lived
• Women in the infantry? Bad idea, female Marine officer says
• Caught on camera: Shark steals fish off pole
• Police: Wire mesh used to trap girl, 4, in bed

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

Updated 9 p.m. ET: CHICAGO -- Dozens of anti-war veterans tossed their medals onto a Chicago street Sunday near where NATO began its two-day summit, calling them “representations of hate,” “lies” and “cheap tokens,” and with some making emotional pleas for forgiveness from the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

With many dressed in military fatigues, they had filed through the streets in formation, chanting "N-A-T-O, NATO has got to go," and “No NATO, no war, we don't work for you no more,” leading about 2,000 protesters on a 2.5-mile march.

---

After “retiring” an American flag they carried through the streets and giving it to a woman whose soldier son committed suicide, they began hurtling their war service medals into the air -- a rare form of protest that was last done on a large scale by 900 Vietnam veterans in 1971.

The protesters cheered the post 9/11-era veterans on, clapping and yelling, “give them back!”

"I choose human life over war," Jerry Bordeleau shouted through a microphone, before tossing the medals onto the street.

Members of Afghans for Peace stood alongside the veterans, holding the Afghan flag and making speeches, too.

“All we have is this flag, but not our sovereign land. I’d like to direct my message to the NATO representatives here in Chicago today. For what you’ve done to my home country, I’m enraged; for what you’ve done to my people, I’m disgusted; for what you’ve done to these veterans, I’m heartbroken,” said Suraia Sahar. “I sympathize with their disappointment and being failed by the system and having their lives, their morals and humanity, toiled with.”

Another man said he was representing deserters who can’t come back to the U.S. and threw many of their medals away.

NATO summit prompts little buzz on streets of Kabul

Steven Acheson, an Army veteran who before the march said he had been waiting a long time for this moment, though he was also anxious about it, threw away his medals for the children of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“May they be able to forgive us for what we have done to them, may we begin to heal and may we live in peace from here till eternity,” he said.

Organizers had hoped 10,000 people would attend the 2.5-mile march that ended near McCormick Place, the convention center where NATO is meeting. But a Chicago city official put the crowd at around 2,000. 

After the nearly three-hour march, skirmishes broke out between riot police and a small group of so-called "black bloc" protesters trying to push their way closer to the summit site. Members of the crowd, some wearing bandanas over their faces, threw large sticks, liquids and bottles at the police. Officers handcuffed several protesters and dragged them away.

Police arrested 45 people and four officers were injured, including one who was stabbed in the leg, said Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, according to NBC Chicago. Authorities were testing a liquid substance found in a backpack, and police used their batons because officers were assaulted, he said.

 

During the two-day summit, leaders of NATO's 28-member nations were to discuss the strategy for ensuring a peaceful Afghanistan after the United States removes its combat troops by 2014.

Michael Mizner, 25, of Wilmington, Del., watched as the veterans tossed their medals.

“As a former Marine, it was hard to watch and listen to,” he said, noting that the statement about the war being a lie hit home. “It’s too true. It’s heartbreaking to think about.”

Returning the medals – even those that are given just for showing up to the theater of conflict, as are some of the ones the veterans threw away – is not without controversy.

“They’re as much of a disgrace as the veterans back in the Vietnam days that did the same thing,” retired Army 1st Sgt. Troy Steward, who served 22 years and is now a military blogger, said ahead of the protest. “If these veterans aren’t proud of the service that they did … then they should never have accepted them (medals) in the first place.”

Among the crowd that marched with the veterans was Arianna Norris-Landry, of St. Louis, dressed as a turn-of-the-century suffragette. She said she and 60 other women were protesting military action and a sense that women's rights are being targeted by conservatives.

Calling themselves "Grannies at the G8" and "Nanas at NATO," some of the women were dressed as World War II feminist icon Rosie the Riveter, others as 1950s' housewives.

"We need to be feeding our children, not the war machines," said Kellie Stewart, a 47-year-old from Saint Croix Falls, Wis. "We need to keep the money, we don't have housing, we don't have jobs. It's just not right what's going on here at home."

Some protesters had provisions for the march, such as food and water, while others had gas masks and bandanas to ward off the effects of pepper spray and tear gas, should they be used. Some have earplugs to shield against the crowd-control noise devices authorities reportedly have.

Not everyone who turned out was supportive. One person could be heard yelling “losers” and “agitators" about halfway through the march.

Scenes from Chicago protests surrounding NATO summit
Great-grandma: Ready to 'lose' my life protesting
Attacks on police, Obama HQ were planned, prosecutors say
US veterans to return war medals

 On Sunday morning, ahead of the march, two activists appeared in court on terrorism-related charges. Cook County prosecutors charged Mark Neiweem, 28, with attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices and Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, with falsely making a terrorist threat.

Three others made court appearances on Saturday, accused of assembling Molotov cocktails – firebombs made by filling glass bottles with gasoline – to attack, among other places, President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago.

Their lawyer, Michael Deutsch has denied the charges against them, calling it all a setup and “entrapment to the highest degree” by at least two police informants, while their friends have insisted they were simply operating a home brewery.

Fellow activists express disbelief at arrest of NATO summit bomb plot suspects

Thirty-seven people had been arrested by Sunday morning, said Kris Hermes, a spokesman for the National Lawyers Guild in Chicago. Chicago has assigned 3,100 officers to the NATO summit to protect the city against the sort of violence that broke out in the streets of Seattle at the World Trade Organization meeting in 1999. They are being assisted by hundreds of officers from Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., NBCChicago.com reported.

Protester Jason Brock, of San Diego, Calif, drove from New Mexico to Chicago to join the march. A trumpeter, he traded "answers and calls" with a veteran who had also brought his trumpet.

“It’s beyond words really what’s happening here right now. I think we’re maybe making steps toward healing this nation,” said Brock, 44. “I hope we can move forward in a way that’s more peaceful and more positive and we can take … the lesson that these men and women are trying to teach us and bring it home to our own lives.”

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Father of 30, by 11 women, wants state child support
• Marijuana grows openly in California towns, not just for medicinal purposes
• Attacks on Chicago police stations, Obama office were planned, prosecutors say
• Video: 'Am I going to make it or not?' says man fleeing fire
• Key witness in Trayvon Martin shooting changed story 

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

HOUSTON -- The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest.

Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago.

The verdict was criticized by the Houston Police Department on Thursday.

"I understand the jury's verdict, I just have to respectfully disagree," Police Chief Charles McClelland said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

---

Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. Stop the racist police," and "Justice for Trayvon Martin" circled in front of the Harris County Courthouse and a phalanx of media cameras.

Some of them chanted that Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos have to go -- even though both officials issued statements saying they disagreed with the verdict.

Blomberg, 29, was one of four officers fired for their role in the beating of Holley in March 2010 when police apprehended him while he was apparently fleeing a burglary.

His acquittal came amid heightened tension after the fatal shooting of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman earlier this year.

Court docs: Trayvon Martin shooting 'ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman'

Holley's beating was videotaped by a security camera at a nearby business showing at least seven officers involved, kicking and stomping him as he lay face down on the ground.

All seven were fired, but four, including Blomberg, were charged with official oppression.

The remaining three defendants will learn of their court dates on Monday. Holley, who was convicted of burglary and sentenced to probation, has filed civil suits against the officers involved.

After the acquittal, Lykos said she respectfully disagreed with the verdict and said prosecutors were "prepared to go to trial on the three remaining cases."

Blomberg told media after the verdict was rendered the incident had nothing to do with race, and that Holley was simply a "fleeing burglary suspect."

But community activists disagreed, and spoke out angrily against police brutality at the courthouse rally on Thursday.

"The cops standing on the street corner, the ones who cower in the lobby of the courthouse -- those no good bastards are never going to change unless you make them change," said activist Quanell X.

Quanell X told the crowd that two black jurors out of a pool of 75 were stricken, and encouraged the black community to respond to jury summons in the future.

"All-white juries can never happen again," he said.

Other activists present at the rally asked people to sign a petition for an independent civilian review board to examine cases of police oppression and brutality.

Speaking to the Houston Chronicle on Thursday, Lykos pointed out that jury pools are created randomly from prospective jurors who say they can be impartial. She also highlighted that Blomberg's defense team struck the two black jurors from the jury pool.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Los Angeles officials say the costs of police overtime and cleaning up local parks due to the Occupy protests have nearly doubled to $5 million, as cities across the country continue to tally the protests’ price tag.

City officials initially said the cost would be $2.6 million, but Los Angeles Councilman Mitch Englander told NBC Los Angeles the figure had grown, with the bulk of the cost attributed to overtime for law enforcement.

 

---

"At a very difficult time financially with the city, at a time we're talking about laying off civilian LAPD and fire personnel, this is going to have a dramatic effect on the city budget," said Englander, chair of the public safety committee. "For every action the city takes, there is a cost."

 

 

 

Protesters hit streets for May Day rallies
'Battle for the soul of Occupy': Activists fear being 'pulled to the right'
Charlotte protesters: Bank of America is 'the worst of the worst'

The two-month camp in the city closed Nov. 30.

Other events in the city also racked up millions of dollars in cost: the 2010 Lakers Parade was estimated at $1.8 million and the Michael Jackson funeral came in at $3.2 million in 2009, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Other cities have spent from tens of thousands to millions of dollars in police overtime and cleanup costs. In New York, the tally reached $17 million through mid-March, DNAinfo.com reported, citing police testimony at a city budget hearing. In Oakland, the city had paid $3.7 million through Feb. 27, according to a report by Oakland Local.

Of the money the cities said they spent, Justin Wedes, of Occupy Wall Street, noted: "America doesn't need to spend millions of dollars on a paramilitary response to citizens exercising their First Amendment rights in public space."

Most of the Occupy camps across the country were shuttered over the winter, but protesters continue to hold marches and demonstrations against income equality, corporate greed and political corruption. Their latest national action, held on May Day, brought thousands of people into the streets.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Tornado hits high school, topples train in Texas
• Suspected kidnapper dead, 2 girls found unharmed
• Video: Pier collapses during prom photo shoot
• Obama who? Gay marriage foes seek to extend gains
• US priests reportedly behind crackdown on nuns
• Cyclist spots stolen bike on Craigslist, steals it back

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook