KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan police say a protest in the capital, Kabul, against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, turned into a violent confrontation between demonstrations and riot police.
Farid Afzeli, chief of the Kabul police department’s criminal investigations division, said several hundred demonstrators gathered in eastern Kabul Saturday afternoon to protest the magazine’s ongoing practice of running satirical caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Afzeli says the protest started peacefully, but says a group of armed infiltrators began blocking roads and shooting at police officers on the scene. Police responded by firing in the air, he said.
At one point, the crowd attempted to attack several government buildings and a local bank, but they were blocked by police. Afzeli said eight demonstrators were injured and one police officer was wounded by gunfire.
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