JOS, NIGERIA — Soldiers opened fire Friday to drive away young Muslims in central Nigeria protesting a film critical of the Prophet Muhammad, witnesses and authorities said, as demonstrators elsewhere in the county’s Muslim north burned a U.S. flag.

The demonstrations in Jos, a city where hundreds have been killed in religious and ethnic violence, began after Friday prayers, witnesses said. Soldiers in the city, who have been on guard there since violence in 2010, followed after the youths, witnesses said.

The youths, some wearing white shirts that read “To Hell With America, To Hell With Israel,” chanted slogans and called for the arrest of the makers of the film that has sparked protests across the Middle East and North Africa.

As the youths grew angry, soldiers fired assault rifles into the air to drive them away, said Capt. Mustapha Salisu, a spokesman for the military command in Jos. The soldiers dispersed the youths as demonstrations have been largely banned in the city since the violence, said Salisu.

It was not clear whether anyone was injured in the gunfire or the melee.