THREE people died yesterday as more than 70,000 demonstrators took part in Pakistan’s biggest protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Police, who used teargas to disperse mobs that were ransacking franchises of Western shops and fast-food restaurants, were drawn into gun battles in several cities.

An eight-year-old boy was killed in Peshawar when a protester shot into a crowd, and a man was electrocuted in the same northwestern city when a power cable was vandalised by rioters. A 30-year old protester died in hospital in Lahore after being shot.

Demonstrations had been peaceful here since the cartoons were first printed, but they turned violent on Tuesday. More than 1,000 students overran the diplomatic quarter of Islamabad, and a mob of 15,000 burnt businesses and vehicles in Lahore, the main Punjab city.

About 70,000 protesters took to the streets of Peshawar yesterday, and a KFC outlet was set ablaze during violent demonstrations. Although local fast-food franchises are owned and operated by Pakistanis, they have often been targeted as symbols of the West. Three cinemas were burnt in the conservative frontier city.

President Musharraf called for calm after an emergency meeting to discuss the growing violence of anti-cartoon protests. He accused “anti-social and criminal elements” of hijacking peaceful demonstrations, damaging the nation’s reputation and deterring foreign investment.

Major-General Shaukat Sultan, the presidential spokesman, said: “These protests are no longer about those people whose (religious) sentiments were hurt. The extremists are taking advantage.”

Police in the northwestern town on Tank blamed violent clashes on hardliners who joined demonstrations from the nearby tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

“The protest was proceeding peacefully before armed supporters of the Taleban penetrated and started firing at the police and burning music shops,” a local police chief said. One police officer was injured in the incident.

While the President attributed the problem to shadowy forces keen to destabilise Pakistan’s relations overseas, much of the protest bore the hallmarks of mob violence. Targets appeared to be chosen more for convenience than by strategy.

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