Photographer Is Shot in the Chest as Hundreds of Charlie Hebdo Protesters Clash with Police in Pakistan

The first pictures have emerged of a photographer bleeding from the chest after being shot in Pakistan as clashes between Charlie Hebdo protesters and police turned violent.

AFP photographer Adif Hasan was shot as some 200 protesters took to the streets outside the French consulate in Kuratchi after the magazine published an image of Prophet Muhammed in its ‘survivor’ edition.

Hasan was believed to have been shot by protesters and although his condition was at first thought to be serious, he was now said to be recovering.

The bullet reportedly struck his lung, and passed through his chest.

AFP news director Michele Leridon said that Hassan underwent surgery and that ‘his life does not seem in danger.’ AFP is now trying to find out whether Hassan was targeted or accidentally shot.

Two other people are said to have been injured.

Pakistani authorities used tear gas, batons and water cannons to disperse angry crowds who tried to force their way into the consulate. Police were also said to have fired warning shots in the air.

The rallies come a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led parliament in condemning the cartoons published by the magazine whose officers were attacked last week, resulting in the deaths of 12 people.

Religious leaders had called for the magazine’s journalists to be hanged and urged their followers to join the protests.

The Telegraph reports that thousands of religious party activists are expected to join the protests nationwide. They are said to include followers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the charitable wing of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group which masterminded attacks on Mumbai in 2008.

The Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban has issued a statement lauding the two brothers–Said and Cherif Kouachi–who carried out the terrorist attack in Paris, saying ‘they freed the earth from the existence of filthy blasphemers’.

‘O enemies of Islam beware! Every youth of this Ummah (Muslim community) is willing to sacrifice himself on the honour of (the) Prophet,’ said the statement, which was sent via email by spokesman Ehsanullan Ehsan.

Religious leaders had called for the magazine’s journalists to be hanged and urged their followers to join the protests.

French flags have been burnt in the northwest city of Peshawar and central Multan and rallies have also been held in the capital Islamabad and the eastern city of Lahore.

Thousands also flooded the streets of Amman, in Jordan, rallying against the magazine. Yesterday, the Royal Jordanian Hashemite Court issued a statement calling the cartoon insulting, irresponsible and reckless.