A photojournalist from French news agency AFP was shot at and three other people were injured when the activists of Pakistan’s right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami on Friday clashed with police outside the French consulate in Karachi in protest against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
The protesters were marching towards the French consulate in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, leading to a showdown with the police who lobbed tear gas shells and fired bullets in the air.
A bullet struck the photojournalist’s lung, and passed through his chest, said a doctor at Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital where the journalist, Asif Hasan, has been admitted. He is out of immediate danger, the doctor added.
Thousands of religious party activists, including followers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a wing of the banned lashkar-e-Tayyeba which masterminded attacks on Mumbai in 2008, on Friday observed black day and held nationwide protest after
Friday prayers against the satirical magazine which republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, considered as un-Islamic by Muslims. The satirical weekly published the contents on Wednesday after an attack on its office in Paris by two gunmen last week in which 12 people were killed.
Protesters in the northwest city of Peshawar and central Multan burnt French flags while rallies were held in Islamabad and lahore. The rallies came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led Parliament in condemning the cartoons in Charlie Hebdo. The Government has taken security measures to keep the protesters within limits of law.