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Police fire water cannon and bullets in clash with anti-Charlie Hebdo protests

PAKISTANI police fired water cannon and bullets in the air today as they clashed with anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters outside the French consulate in Karachi.

The protesters belonged to the student wing of religious party Jamaat-e-Islami, which is holding nationwide rallies against the depiction of the Prophet Mohammed by the French satirical weekly.

The rallies came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led parliament in condemning the cartoons in Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were attacked last week leaving 12 people dead.

Thousands of religious party activists turned out nationwide, including followers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the charitable wing of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group which masterminded attacks on Mumbai in 2008.

The Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban meanwhile issued a statement lauding the two brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo assault, saying “they freed the earth from the existence of filthy blasphemers.”

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