UNITED NATIONS: The Secretary General of the United Nations and the UN human rights chief on Friday urged religious and political leaders to do their utmost to restore calm in the wake of an anti-Islam film that has sparked protests in countries across the world.

On Thursday the spokesperson for the Secretary-General said the UN chief was “deeply disturbed” by the violence in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East and called for calm and restraint to end hostilities.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a news Release: “The film is malicious and deliberately provocative and portrays a disgracefully distorted image of Muslims. I fully understand why people wish to protest strongly against it, and it is their right to do so peacefully.” “However, I utterly condemn the killings in Benghazi, and other violent and destructive reactions to the film and urge religious and political leaders to make a major effort to restore calm,” she added.