Pakistani police opened fire on thousands of anti-U.S. demonstrators who demonstrated in several cities today toprotest the war on Afghanistan.

Chants of “Bush is a terrorist” echoed through the streets.

A pall of smoke hung over the western city of Quetta as police battled thousands of pro-Taliban demonstrators who setablaze 2 cinemas, several shops, a bank, and an office of Pakistan’s Central Investigations Agency.

Police also fired teargas to break up several protests in the northwestern city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border,where angry students and some Afghan refugees tried to demonstrate against the attacks.

Up the Khyber Pass, local militia opened fire as around 5,000 Pashtun tribesmen burned an effigy of President Bush.

Armored personnel carriers with mounted machine guns were parked opposite the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and hundredsof police and paramilitary rangers were deployed at key installations.

Meanwhile, some of Pakistan’s most influential clerics said the U.S. war on Afghanistan was an attack against Islam,and issued a call for a jihad, or holy war.

Vehicles carrying Pakistani soldiers could be seen heading for the Afghan border.

While President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair emphasized the level of international support theyreceived in carrying out attacks against Afghanistan, the military strikes were condemned through much of the Muslimworld.

Guests:

• John Pilger, film maker and journalist with the British newspaper The Guardian.
• Robert Fisk, journalist with the British newspaper the Independent, based in Beirut.

Related links:

• The Guardian
• Independent