Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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Pakistani Police Use Tear Gas Against Cartoons Protesters
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1106A64:3919ACA Islamabad
authorities banned protest rally by Islamist parties 



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Pakistan's police officers retreat as mob advance during a protest in
Islamabad, Feb. 19, 2006Pakistani police fired tear gas and rubber
bullets Sunday to disperse stone-throwing youth who gathered in
Islamabad to protest against European-published cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad.

Police and paramilitary soldiers sealed the city and were out in force
after authorities banned the rally called by Islamist parties. Similar
protests earlier in Pakistan led to violence in which at least five
people were killed.

An alliance of six Islamist parties (Majlis-i-Amal) had vowed to defy
the ban.

Pakistani police also arrested several lawmakers, put some radical
Islamic leaders under house arrest, and detained hundreds of their
supporters.

Denmark, where the cartoons were first published in September,
temporarily withdrew its ambassador from Islamabad. On Friday, it
temporarily closed the embassy because of security concerns.

In Indonesia, hundreds of Muslims protesting the caricatures of
Muhammad attacked the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

Witnesses say the protesters pelted the building with stones, tomatoes
and eggs, and beat on the embassy gates with sticks.

Elsewhere, officials in Nigeria say 15 people were killed Saturday in
Borno state when a demonstration against the cartoons turned into
rioting.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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