AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. Tunis, Tripoli, Cairo, Khartoum, Sanaa, just some of the cities across the Muslim world that saw anti-American and anti-Western protests today. The unrest was sparked by a U.S.-made video that denigrates the Prophet Mohammed. In Tunisia's capital, Tunis, protestors jumped the walls of the U.S. embassy compound. They broke windows, set fires and clashed with police, who responded with tear gas.
In Tripoli, Lebanon, rioters chanted anti-American slogans and set fire to a KFC restaurant. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, mobs broke through police lines to breach the American, German and British embassies. In Cairo, men blocked from approaching the U.S. embassy hurled Molotov cocktails and in Tahrir Square, they chanted - with our soul, with our blood, we defend you, God's prophet.
Protestors demanded an official apology from the U.S. for the video Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called disgusting and reprehensible. Meanwhile, here at home, in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base, a ceremony to transfer the remains of those killed in the consulate attack in Libya. President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and other top officials watched as Marines carried the coffins of the four Americans killed in Benghazi.
Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Secretary Clinton spoke first.
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: Ladies and Gentlemen, today we bring home four Americans who gave their lives for our country and our values. To the families of our fallen colleagues, I offer our most heartfelt condolences and deepest gratitude.
CORNISH: She spoke of each of the four men and went on to say it's hard for Americans to make sense of what's happened this week because it is senseless.
CLINTON: The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts.
CORNISH: President Obama said the four men who died were patriots who had served their country well, not simply embracing the American ideal, but embodying it. He vowed to carry on with their mission.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Even as voices of suspicion and mistrust seek to divide countries and cultures from one another, the United States of America will never retreat from the world. We will never stop working for the dignity and freedom that every person deserves, whatever their creed.
CORNISH: The president said that's the essence of American leadership. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.