[JURIST] Pakistani police Monday fired tear gas to stop approximately 7,000 students from protesting controversial and allegedly-blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] that have now been re-published in newspapers in Europe [JURIST report] and around the world. The police took action to prevent students from marching on the Governor's residence in Peshawar, and the students also marched to several nearby universities and threw stones at a Christian school and shops located in the main business district. Initial reports say a number of protestors were detained.

The Pakistan march was one of several large rallies and mass protests [JURIST report] that have been in Muslim and some Western countries in reaction to the cartoons first published by a Danish newspaper in September, and came after calls by Western and Muslim leaders for a halt to violent protests. AP has more.