Anti-American protests have spread throughout the Muslim world after Newsweek magazine reported U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran by flushing the holy book down the toilet in front of detainees at Guantanamo. During the protests in Afghanistan, police killed at least 19 in the worst anti-American demonstrations since the US invaded the country in 2001. Thousands also protested in Pakistan, Indonesia, Yemen and Gaza. One Pakistani man interviewed by Newsweek said “We can understand torturing prisoners, no matter how repulsive. But insulting the Koran is like deliberately torturing all Muslims. This we cannot tolerate.” Under pressure from the Pentagon, Newsweek is now backing off some of its original reporting. The magazine hasn’t retracted the claim but acknowledged there were errors in the report. However this is not the first time such accusations surfaced about US guards desecrating the Koran. In August 2003, 23 Yemeni detainees reportedly tried to commit mass suicide after a guard stomped on the Koran. In addition, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reported former detainees said they saw the Koran being thrown into the toilets.