ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Police used batons and fired teargas to break up a demonstration by thousands of students who broke into the highly protected diplomatic enclave during a protest here on Tuesday against the publication of blasphemous cartoons.

Police said nearly 150 of the protesters were arrested after they had uprooted a gate of the enclave, pelted stones on embassies and damaged cars and shops at the Aabpara market.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao estimated the number of demonstrating students at 6,000 students. The protest was followed by a peaceful procession by thousands of traders from Rawalpindi and a march by opposition and treasury members of both houses of parliament.

Mr Sherpao told media that the government had taken necessary measures to protect vital installations and foreign assets, but it did not want to be ‘very harsh’ in view of the sensitivity of the issue.

Outside the Parliament House, the students tore up portraits of the president and the PM.