WBRZ - Baton Rouge

TUNIS, Tunisia - A large cloud of black smoke has risen around the U.S. embassy in Tunis where stone-throwing protesters and police are waging a pitched battle.

Thousands of demonstrators have massed outside the embassy and several were seen climbing the outer wall of the embassy grounds and raising a flag on which was written the Muslim profession of faith, an Associated Press reporter on the scene says.

Police responded by firing tear gas, and police gunfire could be heard.