In Pakistan, 20 killed on day of protest against incendiary video - Washington Post

In the northwestern city of Peshawar, rescue workers and other officials said six people were killed, including a policeman and member of a television crew, in rampages that also left about 60 people wounded. Television journalists on the scene said police opened fire with live rounds as mobs torched two movie houses.

In Karachi, officials and journalists at the scene said the marchers burned movie theaters, banks, American food franchises and police vehicles. Hard-line Islamist parties, including two banned factions, joined the protests.

But police and paramilitary troops blocked the crowds — 15,000 strong by some estimates — from reaching the U.S. Consulate.

Abdul Ghani, a Karachi shopkeeper, said the security forces opened fire on the protesters and turned the demonstration violent.

"We were completely peaceful and just wanted to register our protest in front of the U.S Consulate," Ghani said. "That unwanted and uncalled action by the police got the mobs infuriated."

In the eastern city of Lahore, officials said 12 riot police and four protesters were injured during pitched battles involving thousands of demonstrators. The crowd, however, could not breach the elaborate security cordon around Lahore's U.S. Consulate, the final destination of about five major rallies in the city.

In the capital, Islamabad, and neighboring Rawalpindi, marchers skirmished with police throughout the day, blocking major highways and setting a tollbooth and vehicles on fire. Fourteen police officers were injured in the chaos, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

The Pakistani army was mobilized to protect the U.S. Embassy, presidential residence and parliament building.

The government had declared a national holiday for Friday, encouraging peaceful protests so that citizens could declare their love for the prophet Muhammad in the wake of the controversial video denigrating him, which has sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world.

Government critics correctly predicted that the move would backfire by giving official sanction to incitement by Islamist parties.

"This was a terrible idea," said Mehreen Zahra-Malik, a columnist with The News, a national English-language daily. "It was time to calm people down and not give a stamp of approval to protesters, many of whom would just use it as an excuse for violence.... There was clearly going to be violence."

Another commentator, Marvi Sirmed, said on Twitter: "It is sad, so very sad that we could never make a government realize that they don't have to kneel before mullah," a reference to Islamic clerics.