Though the US has continued to say they have no “proof” of any of the allegations floating around on last week’s attack against the US consulate in Benghazi, some of the reports have tapped a group called Ansar al-Sharia Benghazi (ASB) as the possible culprits.
So when pro-regime protesters took to the streets Friday to condemn the attacks, they didn’t just stop with a march and chanting, but instead moved against the ASB headquarters in the city, sacking and burning the compound.
“After what happened at the American consulate, the people of Benghazi had enough of the extremists,” one of the attackers declared. The nearby compound of another ASB, the Abu Slim Brigade, was also captured, though it doesn’t appear they had anything in common with the Ansar al-Sharia faction beyond initials.
Ansar al-Sharia held a counter-protest elsewhere in the city, saying that expelling Westerners from the nation was “the will of the Prophet” and accusing the other side’s protesters of holding a “day to rescue America.”