ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Tens of thousands of Muslims protested in Pakistan, Indian Kashmir and Iran Sunday to condemn Saudi Arabia's execution of leading Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, as fury over the killing spread.
Peaceful protests were held across Pakistan, including in the southwestern city Quetta where participants called on the government to reconsider its longtime ties with Riyadh and demonstrators held placards bearing anti-Saudi slogans.
In the eastern city of Lahore, people took to the streets, calling Nimr's execution a gross human rights violation, while in the port city of Karachi men, women and children shouted slogans against the royal Saudi family.
Similar protests also took place in several districts of the southern Sindh province and the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where people gathered to call on the UN to intervene to stop Saudi Arabia from targeting Shia Muslims.
Amid the rallies, Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir, who was scheduled to arrive in Islamabad Sunday evening, postponed his visit.
"The visit was postponed at the request of the authorities of Saudi Arabia," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement, adding the trip would take place on January 7.
Meanwhile in Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir, angry protesters clashed with police as they rallied to denounce the cleric's execution.
The demonstrators bearing photos of Nimr chanted "down with al-Saud dynasty," referring to Saudi leaders and called them "stooges of America" as they marched toward the city centre.
Some hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas and wielded batons in return, a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.
Similar protests were also held in smaller towns across the Muslim-majority region, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both the South Asian rivals.
Iraqi and Bahraini capitals as well as many other parts of the world have witnessed similar mass protests at the execution.
In Tehran, people poured into the streets to vent their anger at the execution a day after students gathered outside the Saudi Embassy for protests.
Protesters threw petrol bombs and stormed the embassy. The kingdom's consulate in Mashhad, Iran's second biggest city in the country's northeast, was also attacked.
On Sunday, authorities said at least 44 people were arrested late Saturday for storming the diplomatic missions in the two cities.
President Hassan Rouhani condemned the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr but also denounced attacks on the kingdom's embassy and consulate as "totally unjustifiable".
"The actions last night by a group of radicals in Tehran and Mashhad leading to damage at the Saudi embassy and consulate are totally unjustifiable, as the buildings should be legally and religiously protected in the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
But Rouhani criticized Saudi Arabia for killing Nimr.
"I have no doubt that the Saudi government has damaged its image, more than before, among the countries in the world -- in particular among Islamic countries -- by this un-Islamic act," he said in a statement.
Yet, the people of Iran "will not allow rogue elements" to use the incident and "carry out illegal actions that damage the dignity of the Islamic Republic establishment", he added.
"I call on the interior minister to identify the perpetrators of this attack with firm determination and introduce them to the judiciary... so that there will be an end to such appalling actions once and for all."
Tehran's police chief said a number of "unruly elements" were arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks.
A group of Iranian clerics and seminary students have also held demonstrations in the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad in condemnation of the execution.
Rouhani said Saudi Arabia’s execution of the prominent clergyman was in line with Riyadh’s sectarian policies, which aim to spread terrorism and extremism.