LATEST: Protesters In Libya Push Islamic Militia Out Of Benghazi After Deadly Pakistan Violence Over Anti-Muslim Film

From Dominic Patten in Los Angeles & Nancy Tartaglione in Europe:

SATURDAY AM, 30TH UPDATE WRITETHRU: Protesters last night drove Libyan Islamist militias out of Benghazi. The show of mass frustration appeared to be part of a coordinated sweep of militia headquarters buildings by police, government troops and activists that lasted into early this morning. At least one person was killed and 20 wounded as the militias fought back before fleeing. Reuters reported that looters carried weapons out of the vacated Ansar al-Sharia military compound. Washington blames Ansar al-Sharia for the attack on the U.S. consulate in which the U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killled. The group denies involvement. Stevens was popular in Benghazi because he worked closely with rebels who toppled Col. Muammar Gaddafi. Chanting 'Libya, Libya,' hundreds poured into the compound, pulling down militia flags and torching a vehicle. One demonstrator said 'After what happened at the American consulate, the people of Benghazi had enough of the extremists. So the people broke in and they fled.' Thousands of Libyans marched in Benghazi earlier yesterday in support of democracy and against the Islamist militias.

Pro-government protests in Tripoli and Benghazi followed deadly violence Friday in Pakistan where reports place the death toll at between 12 and 19 people. It was the worst single day of violence since the anti-Muslim Innocence Of Muslims video spread last week, The New York Times reports. Demonstrations in Peshawar and Karachi also left two police officers dead. Two movie theaters were torched in Peshawar and three were burned in Karachi, according to CNN. It didn't matter that Pakistan's government today declared a 'Day of Love for the Prophet Mohammad' and shut mobile-phone services in its major cities and closed roads leading to U.S. diplomatic posts to achieve peace. To that end, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan began airing TV ads on Thursday featuring clips of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning the anti-Islam video. But the spots did little to calm unrest.

U.S. and other Western embassies were closed in many cities throughout the Muslim world yesterday in anticipation of protests after Friday prayers. They follow a Los Angeles Judge allowing the trailer for Innocence Of Muslims to remain on YouTube.

Yesterday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Luis Lavin denied an injuction that would have forced YouTube to take down the trailer for the anti-Islam film. He said in court that without a contract he can't gauge what the film's actress Cindy Lee Garcia ' who brought the suit (read it here) ' agreed to, therefore making it impossible to determine whether Garcia was duped as she claimed, into appearing in a film other than what became Innocence Of Muslims. Following the hearing, Garcia's lawyer M. Cris Armenta said she plans to file a new request for an injunction with a trial judge this week.

Film LA Thursday released the permit (read it here) for the film, which lists Duarte-based Media for Christ as the production company. Names and contact information for the producer, director and other crew members were redacted. The permit covers a one-day shoot at Blue Cloud Ranch in Santa Clarita for the film Desert Warriors, which has since become known as Innocence Of Muslims.

On Thursday and for the first time, the White House described the September 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya as a terrorist attack that may have involved members of Al Qaeda or its affiliates, but added it has no indication yet that it was planned in advance. 'It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,' White House press secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters aboard Air Force One. Carney added the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans was the 'result of opportunism' rather than a planned operation, according to the Los Angeles Times. Speaking earlier Thursday at a Univision-hosted Town Hall in Florida, President Obama said that the violent protests sparked by outrage over Innocence Of Muslims is something the U.S. has seen before. Where 'there is an offensive video or cartoon directed at the Prophet Muhammad' and that is used 'as an excuse by some to carry out inexcusable violent acts' against the U.S., Obama said.

During Thursday morning's LA court hearing, YouTube parent Google's lawyer Timothy Alger of SF-based Perkins Coie vehemently challenged the request to have the video taken down, saying it passed YouTube's community standards and was a matter of free speech. He also argued that the performance by an actor in a role does not warrant protection of speech. Lawyers for the film's producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, also named in the suit, did not attend. Nakoula is understood to have been in hiding since federal authorities interviewed him last week.

Earlier Thursday, Garcia, the film's actress, said during a press conference that she worked on the movie for four days in July 2011 and that it was 'degrading and demoralizing'. She added that as far as she knows a full film was never completed, and that the producer known as Sam Bacile (aka Nakoula) told her in a recent telephone call he made the film because 'he was tired of radical Muslims killing innocent people ' put it online to make a point.' Garcia maintains that since the amateurish and explicit film ' which ridicules the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child molester ' went global online she lost her job and that 'she has been subjected to credible death threats and is in fear for her life and the life and safety of anyone associated with her.'

So far YouTube and Google have blocked access to the film in Libya, Egypt, Indonesia, India and Saudi Arabia to comply with national laws in those countries. Saudi Arabia had earlier threatened to block YouTube entirely within the kingdom if a request to deny access to the video had not been heeded. The state-run University of the Philippines has banned students from showing the video in a planned public screening Friday. Previously, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen ordered blocking access to all websites carrying the video. Bangladesh blocked YouTube indefinitely and Afghanistan and Pakistan have also blocked the site ' though that didn't stop protests breaking out Thursday in front of the U.S. embassy compound in Islamabad. German authorities have weighed whether to ban a far-right group from holding a public screening of the film. The Pro Deutschland Citizens' Movement has posted the trailer on its website but it is unclear if it has access to more footage.

Backed by hardcore anti-Islam groups in the U.S., Innocence Of Muslims has been the catalyst for violent and even deadly rioting in more than 30 countries beginning with Egypt and Libya on 9/11. An Afghan insurgent group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Kabul this week that killed at least 9 people, saying it was retaliation for the film. Embassies have remained on alert and on Wednesday this week, the U.S. closed its consulate in Indonesia's third-largest city Medan as protests continued there. The State Department had already called for the removal of non-essential personnel from some of its missions with Germany following suit. France was to close embassies and schools in 20 countries today (Friday), after French magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad. French authorities have rejected a request to hold a march against the film in Paris, Reuters reported.

On Tuesday, Egypt's general prosecutor issued arrest warrants for seven Egyptian Coptic Christians, and Florida-based American pastor Terry Jones, on charges linked to Innocence Of Muslims, the Associated Press reported. The prosecutor's office said in a statement that the eight, including Nakoula, face charges of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information. The U.S. remains under pressure from the Muslim world to take action against the people responsible for the propaganda film, although London's Sunday Times said U.S. investigators believe the crude video may never have been a finished feature.

Both the Obama administration and GOP presidental candidate Mitt Romney denounced the video early on. It fell to U.S. Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton to explain why the American government isn't ordering the video pulled or its filmmakers arrested. Last week, she said, 'Now, I know it is hard for some people to understand why the United States cannot or does not just prevent these kinds of reprehensible videos from ever seeing the light of day. I would note that in today's world with today's technologies, that is impossible. But even if it were possible, our country does have a long tradition of free expression which is enshrined in our Constitution and our law, and we do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.'

Related: Obama Talks With Letterman About Anti-Islam Film

Last weekend, federal authorities interviewed presumed producer Nakoula and are determining whether he violated his probation. He served 21 months in prison on 2009 federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges and a $795K fine. ABC News has reported he 'could face more prison time if it is determined his involvement in the film was a violation of his probation, which barred him from either owning or using devices with access to the Web without prior approval from his probation officer.' So far Nakoula has not been arrested. He left his family's Cerritos home with his head wrapped in a towel to hide his identity when sheriffs escorted him to a police station for FBI questioning.

At first, Innocence Of Muslims was ignored even when trailers were posted on YouTube in July. But then Egyptian television aired certain segments, which sparked protests which intensified. When news of his movie first broke, the filmmaker identified himself to media as Sam Bacile and made up lies about his identity. But the paperwork filed for the Screen Actors Guild was that of Abenob Nakoula Bassely. A public records search showed an Abanob B. Nakoula residing at the same address as Nakoula. Now the filmmaker is believed to be a Coptic Christian with many aliases.

Details about the film and its purported filmmakers have emerged over the past ten days:

' Court records show that Nakoula was once a federal informant. The Smoking Gun obtained a transcript which shows attorneys for Nakoula pleaded for 'cooperation points' when their client was sentenced in 2010 on an earlier conviction for check fraud. The lawyers argued cooperation with prosecutors in a separate case should be taken into consideration.

' Family members of Nakoula left their Cerritos home to join him in hiding. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies escorted members of Nakoula's family out of the house early Monday and into sheriff's vehicles so they could rejoin Nakoula at an undisclosed location.

' News reports claim a second filmmaker, Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, president of Media for Christ, is an associate of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

' Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a federal law enforcement source told the AP. A man calling himself Sam Bacile initially claimed to be the writer and director of the film, but doubts surfaced regarding his identity. He has no credits on any movie industry database and SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline they have no information about the film; the DGA confirms they have no 'Sam Bacile' on record. It appears that Bacile is one of many aliases Nakoula used, the AP noted.

' The YouTube profile 'Sam Bacile' was used to post clips of the film on July 1 and comments as recently as Tuesday last week. It lists the age of the account holder at 74. Nakoula is believed to be 55.

' Another man, Steve Klein, told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie vetting the script. Klein is an insurance agent and self-described militant Christian activist who resides in Hemet, CA.

' There are accounts of the film being screened in June under the name Innocence Of Bin Laden. According to Klein, Nakoula wanted to give it a title that would draw in and then trick 'hardcore Muslims' into watching a movie that slammed Islam. But according to Klein, no tickets were sold and Nakoula was 'crushed,' the AP said. Klein told The Times 'felt great' about consulting on the film.

' CNN received a statement from the 80 or so people in front of and behind the cameras denouncing the film they say they worked on without knowing it was propaganda. The statement reads:

'The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred.'