(MENAFN- Arab News) KARACHI Pakistan: At least three people were injured Friday in clashes between anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters and police outside the French Consulate in Pakistan's Karachi officials said including an AFP photographer who was shot in the back.The protest by the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party was one of several staged across Pakistan by groups after Friday prayers against anti-Islam caricatures by the French satirical magazine.'Three injured were brought to the hospital two were minor injuries and one photographer was serious' said Dr. Seemi Jamali a spokeswoman for the city's main Jinnah Hospital referring to AFP's Asif Hassan 38.'The bullet struck his lung and passed through his chest. He is out of immediate danger and he has spoken to his colleagues' she continued adding that Hassan was hit by what appeared to be a live round.The others injured were a policeman and a local TV cameraman who were discharged after receiving first aid.Senior police official Abdul Khaliq Sheikh told AFP that the violence began when some 350 protesters were prevented by police from approaching the French Consulate in the southern part of the sprawling metropolis.'When the police tried to stop them they started firing' he said adding that the police responded with tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters.Police said Hassan and the other journalist did not appear to have been deliberately targeted but were caught in crossfire when protesters shot at the police.A witness at the scene backed the police account though the religious party blamed the police.'Police are responsible for those wounded during the protest including Asif Hasan' said Hafiz Bilal Ramzan head of the party's student wing.The rallies come a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led Parliament in condemning the cartoons in Charlie Hebdo whose Paris offices were attacked last week by gunmen who killed 12 people.Thousands of religious party activists turned out nationwide including followers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa the charitable wing of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group which masterminded attacks on Mumbai in 2008.The group has come under the spotlight since Pakistan vowed to crack down on militant groups of all hues including those considered friendly to its interests following a Taleban school massacre last month that left 150 people dead.The Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taleban earlier issued a statement lauding the two brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo assault saying 'they freed the earth from the existence of filthy blasphemers.'Protesters in the northwest city of Peshawar and central Multan burnt French flags on the streets while rallies were also held in the capital Islamabad and the eastern city of Lahore.In addition to protests by religious parties lawyers have vowed to boycott court proceedings to show their displeasure over the sketches.