Several police officers taken hostage as anti-France protests rage on in Pakistan

At least seven Pakistani police and paramilitary officers have been taken hostage during anti-France protests in eastern city of Lahore.

"The TLP members are holding five police officers and two rangers hostage," said Rana Arif, a police spokesman in Lahore said, referring to the country's paramilitary force.

Firdous Ashiq Awan, a spokeswoman for the Punjab provincial government, however, said a dozen policemen had been abducted and taken to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in Lahore.

She added that at least six police officers had died in clashes this week.

"Violent groups armed with petrol bombs and acid bottles stormed the Nawankot police station this morning," the spokeswoman said.

Separately, an oil truck was seized and petrol bombs thrown at officers across the city.

The TLP leaders say several of the party's supporters were also killed in Sunday's clashes."

We won't bury them until the French ambassador is kicked out," said Allama Muhammad Shafiq Amini, a TLP leader in the city.

Islamabad announced on Wednesday that the TLP, which has held rallies in the country despite various marches against insulting and blasphemous French cartoons of the Prophet of Islam, was to be banned and outlawed under the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

Hundreds of supporters of the group have been arrested during the latest round of protests, which erupted after the detention Monday of TLP leader Saad Rizvi.

Rizvi, who is charged by the Pakistani government with instigating murder, was taken into custody hours after calling for a march in the capital, Islamabad, to demand the expulsion of the French ambassador and boycott of French products over the European country’s anti-Islam stance. 

On Saturday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said the party hadn't been banned for its ideology, but rather its methods.

"Let me make clear to people here & abroad: Our govt. only took action against TLP under our anti-terrorist law when they challenged the writ of the state and used street violence & attacking the public & law enforcers," he tweeted.

Khan said insulting the prophet hurt Muslims around the world.

"We cannot tolerate any such disrespect & abuse," he added.

He also said Western governments should treat people who insult the Prophet of Islam the same as those who deny the Holocaust.

"I... call on Western govts who have outlawed any negative comment on the holocaust to use the same standards to penalize those deliberately spreading their message of hate against Muslims by abusing our Prophet," Khan tweeted.

Pakistan on Friday blocked social media and instant messaging platforms for several hours to head off major protests.

The TLP has been behind an anti-France campaign for months.

During earlier protests, supporters of the group brought Islamabad and several other cities to a standstill for several days that saw heavy street fighting.

The demonstrations ended after a meeting between the government and TLP party leaders, who claimed Islamabad had agreed to expel the French ambassador.

Reacting to derogatory cartoons of Prophet Mohammad, French President Emmanul Macron has said he would not “renounce the caricatures.”

He recently described Islam as a religion “in crisis” and declared war on “Islamist separatism,” which he claimed was taking over France’s estimated six-million-strong Muslim population.

The comments have angered not only the Muslim community in France, but all Islamic nations, leading to protests, boycott calls and diplomatic condemnations in the Middle East and the broader Muslim world.

In October last year, Premier Khan wrote a letter to the leaders of Muslim countries calling on them to act collectively against growing Islamophobia in France and elsewhere across the West.

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