Thousands of demonstrators stage anti-US march

Описание: (18 Dec 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide top-shot of the Jamaat-e-Islami protesters
2. Mid of rally with Jamaat-e-Islami national party chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed (brown hat, white beard) raising hands to participants
3. Close-up of a protester chanting slogans against India and the United States of America
4. Mid of a protester with a banner reading: (English) "No to NATO supply"
5. Mid of Qazi Hussain Ahmed on truck delivering speech
6. Assembled media
7. Qazi Hussain Ahmed delivering speech
8. SOUNDBITE (Pashto) Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami national party chief:
"We are not saying to take weapons and kill them, we just want to say to the people to come out of their homes with black flags and tell them that we hate you, and show the Government that the NATO forces are bombing us daily. We are helping by stopping their supplies and protesting against them."
9. Wide of protest with protesters chanting against US President George W. Bush
10. Various of protesters listing to the speech
11. Mid of Qazi holding recognition 'shield' for Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, journalist who threw shoe at Bush
12. Men standing on US flag
13. US flag burning
14. Mid of security
STORYLINE
More than 10-thousand Pakistanis protested on Thursday against allowing US forces to ship supplies through Pakistan into Afghanistan, in a sign of growing pressure on Islamabad to harden its foreign policy.
It was one of the largest rallies against the government since it took office in March.
Militants have attacked trucks using the critical Khyber Pass route several times in recent weeks.
The protesters, backers of Jamaat-e-Islami, a hard-line Islamist party, also decried US missile strikes targeting al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border and Pakistani military offensives against Islamic insurgents in the area.
Banner-toting demonstrators chanted "Down with America" and "Jihad is the only solution of America" as they marched along a key road in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, led by national party chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
The protest comes at a time that the government is dealing with fallout from the Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people.
India on Thursday ordered cricket officials to cancel next month's scheduled tour of Pakistan.
Reflecting concern for Pakistan's economic and political stability, the country's main stock market index fell to its lowest level in more than three years.
India claims the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group was behind November's attacks on Mumbai.
Pakistan has arrested some suspects and clamped down on a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, allegedly linked to the outlawed group, but it insists it needs evidence from India.
Pakistan also summoned an Indian envoy on Thursday to formally complain about alleged violations of its airspace on Saturday, as it sought to deflect heat from the Mumbai attacks onto its longtime rival.
Pakistani leaders had previously downplayed the alleged airspace breaches by Indian aircraft, calling them "technical."
India has denied any airspace violations took place.

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