The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has become embroiled in a Twitter spat after it posted support in Arabic to protesters outside the US embassy in Cairo, while at the same time tweeting conciliatory messages from its English feed.
The mixed messages posted by the party, of which newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is leader, prompted a sharp exchange between the account of the US embassy and the Muslim Brotherhood, reported Egyptian newspaper The Ahram Online.
The embassy in Cairo responded tersely, telling the Muslim Brotherhood that they could read their Arabic posts.
The strained exchange between the two embassies began after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Twitter feed wrote:
.@khairatAlshater:We r relieved none of @USEmbassyCairo staff were harmed & hope US-Eg relations will sustain turbulence of Tuesday's events
September 13, 2012 3:31 am via Twitter for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite
To which the US embassy account responded:
.@ikhwanweb Thanks. By the way, have you checked out your own Arabic feeds? I hope you know we read those too.
The tension between the two then escalated with the Muslim Brotherhood refusing to acknowledge the mixed message.
They tweeted back: "we understand you're under a lot of stress, but it will be more helpful if you point out exactly the Arabic feed of concern."
The exchange prompted thousands of replies on Twitter, with some posting: "How about u both grow up, stop going at each for a tweet, & instead, cooperate to resolve the current situation?"
Thursday marked the third day of violent protests outside the US embassy in Cairo with hundreds of demonstrators battling riot officers.
Police vehicles were set on fire, and tear gas fired into the crowds. Around 70 people were injured including police officers, the state news agency said.
Violence has spilled into Yemen, Gaza, Tunisia and Tehran, and a day after the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was killed in an attack in Benghazi.
Rioters are protesting The Innocence Of Muslims, an amateur film that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a homosexual.
The Muslim Council described the film as "disgraceful" but issued a call to stop the violence.
In a translated statement, they said: "The peoples and governments of the Muslim world have every right to condemn, with all peaceful and legal means, this new violation and heinous attack, and to take appropriate action to deter repeats of such acts of barbaric aggression.
"While we reject and condemn the bloodshed and violent response to that abuse and the incredible tolerance certain countries show towards it, we cannot ignore the fact that these countries never made a move regarding the abuse until after the strong reaction seen across the Muslim world.
President Obama said of Egypt in an interview with Telemundo:
"I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy.
"And if they take actions that indicate they're not taking those responsibilities, as all other countries do where we have embassies, I think that's going to be a real big problem."
