Summary The rally in Karachi is the biggest in a series of demonstrations against the French magazine.
KARACHI (Web Desk / AFP) - Thousands of people marched through Pakistan s southern megacity on Thursday in the largest protest yet against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing blasphemous caricatures.
The march through the streets of Karachi is the biggest in a series of demonstrations against the magazine, whose Paris offices were attacked on January 7 by Islamist gunmen, killing 12 people.
An intelligence official overseeing the rally told AFP that the protesters numbered in the "thousands", still a relatively small turnout in a city of 18 million people.
Protesters carried green flags and chanted anti-Charlie Hebdo slogans as they marched.
"Down with Charlie Hebdo, down with the blasphemers," they shouted.
Across the border in Afghanistan, around 50 people gathered outside the French Embassy in Kabul to protest against the magazine, chanting "France you are the devil".
Charlie Hebdo last week published a "survivors" issue with an image depicting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on the cover page.
Under Pakistan s strict blasphemy laws, insulting the prophet can carry the death penalty. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the National Assembly last week strongly condemned the publication of the cartoons.
At least three people were injured on Friday when protesters and police clashed at an anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstration outside the French consulate in Karachi.
They included AFP photographer Asif Hassan, who was shot in the back and is now recovering in hospital.
