KABUL — A demonstration in Kabul over nixed plans by a Florida pastor to burn Korans turned violent Wednesday as police officers and demonstrators exchanged gunfire, Afghan officials said.
At least 37 police officers and eight Afghans were wounded as police were assaulted with rocks and bullets when they moved in on demonstrators in a poor southwest Kabul neighborhood about 7:30 a.m., according to Mohamed Zahir, the chief of the Kabul police criminal investigations division.
The rare outbreak of violence in the Afghan capital illustrated how viscerally many Muslims have reacted to the since-canceled plan to burn Islam’s holy book on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The incident also underscores the tenuous security situation in the country ahead of Saturday’s parliamentary election, which the Taliban has threatened to disrupt with attacks.
Zahir said investigators suspect Taliban members instigated the protest in an effort to stoke anti-American sentiment.
“Some Taliban infiltrated the protest, and that’s why it became violent,” he said. “They were firing on police from neighboring houses.”
Zahir said police officers moved in on the crowd because they were concerned protesters intended to set fire to shops and NATO fuel trucks.
“Police had to react to that,” he said.
Nisarubin Baryalai, the head of the Kabul provincial council, said he accompanied police officers to the scene at their request.
Demonstrators were chanting, “Down with the U.S., down with the people who help them,” he said.
As officers approached, protesters threw stones at them. Officers fired in the air, and soon a gun battle broke out, he said. The confrontation came to an end about 11 a.m.
Crowd estimates ranged from a few hundred to 3,000.
