In Afghanistan, protests against the burning of Koran last month in the United States continued in different cities for the third day today. Hundreds of people took to the streets today in southern city of Kandahar where nine protesters were killed and 81 injured yesterday in a similar protest. Provincial governor's spokesman Zelmai Ayoubi said protests went on peacefully today but all shops and roads remained closed. Elsewhere in the same province, the protest turned violent in Panjwaee district after demonstrators started pelting stones at police forces. Three policemen were slightly injured in the incident. Hundreds of people blocked a main highway for three hours in eastern Jalalabad city, shouting for U.S. troops to leave and burned an effigy of US President Barack Obama before dispersing.Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said people should not let opportunists and enemies misuse the protests and take advantage of the situation. Taliban said in a statement that the U.S. and other Western countries have wrongly excused the burning a Koran by the pastor of a Florida church as freedom of speech. The protests were triggered on Friday in northern city of Mazar-e-sharif where seven UN staff were killed by protestors.