KARACHI: Two journalists including an AFP photographer were injured when police fired shot and tear-gassed students who attempted to march up to French Consulate in Karachi against the printing of blasphemous cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The protest was organised by Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.
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After Friday prayers, about a thousand students from different city colleges marched to city posh neighborhood, Bath Island in clifton, where the French Consulate is located. The protesters were going to the Consulate to register protest and hand over a protest memorandum against the publication of the blasphemous cartoon by the French Weekly.
When the protesters reached near the Consulate, police stopped them and pushed them back by restoring to aerial firing, tear-gassing and using water cannon.
The police high handedness angered the protesters, who in retaliation pelted police with stones and a hours long clash between the protesting students and police ensued.
According to private ARY News TV channel, two journalists including an AFP photographer were injured when police opened shot in the air.
The AFP photographer, who was identified as Asif Khan, is said to be in critical condition and is being treated at Jinnah Hospital. Hospital sources said that the photographer received a bullet in the abdomen and doctors were struggling to save his life at the Jinnah Hospital.
The clash lasted for about two hours. Later, the protectors converged at Teen Talwar roundabout and staged a sit-in against the Carlie Hebdo magazine and the highhandedness of police against peaceful protest.
Addressing the protesters, IJT leaders said that the French weekly had resorted to freedom to insult in the garb of freedom of speech and press. They added that hurting the feeling and emotions and insulting religion could not be allowed in the garb of freedom of speech, they added, saying that the magazine was conspiring against Islam and has resorted to terrorism.
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