Fury as Anti-American Pakistanis take to streets

Anti-American demonstrators clashed with police in Pakistan cities today as Pakistan’s president insisted his endorsement of US attacks against Afghanistan enjoyed wide support.

Some religious leaders called for Islamic holy war.

No serious injuries or deaths were immediately reported.

In Quetta, a crowd of 1,500 burned tyres and burned down a cinema before police dispersed them with tear gas.

Roving bands of demonstrators moved through town, shutting down stores. Bostan Aly, a fruit seller, said he was beaten by a mob that smashed everything breakable in his shop after he refused to lower his shutters.

And two dozen protesters attacked a police station but were repulsed.

In Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, protesters set three buses aflame. Tear gas also was used to scatter 2,000 Taliban supporters as they emerged from a mosque in northwestern Peshawar and began to demonstrate.

At least four people were injured when police opened fire on several hundred demonstrators in the border town of Landikotal when they tried to stage a pro-Taliban rally.

The US-British attacks on Afghanistan drew quick, impassioned condemnation by some of Pakistan’s most influential religious leaders. Several called the military strikes a direct attack on Islam, and many warned of consequences within this Muslim nation of 145 million.

"It is terrorism against terrorism, and that will solve nothing," protester Amin Shinwari said in Peshawar.

Pakistan shares a border of more than more than 1,050 miles with Afghanistan.

An estimated two million Afghan refugees are already in Pakistan, and Musharraf said he expects one million more after Sunday’s attacks.

Munawar Hassan, deputy chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s most powerful religious political party, warned of "serious backlash" within Pakistan’s military because of the president’s pro-American stance.

"The Pakistan army does not agree with Musharraf," Hassan said. He called the strikes on the Afghan capital 'an attack against Islam'."