KABUL, Afghanistan — Gunfire erupted Saturday at a demonstration in Kabul where several hundred people had gathered to protest the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, witnesses said.
Details were murky, but witnesses said that at least eight people were wounded in a confrontation with the police and that some were believed to have died. Police officials, however, later insisted that they were not aware of any deaths. The protest took place on Jalalabad Road in the city’s east.
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But until Saturday there had been little unrest in Kabul over the matter, though some restrained protests were held. The imam at one mosque, for example, devoted a recent Friday sermon to speaking about Charlie Hebdo and Western notions of freedom of expression without urging Muslims to demonstrate.
