Pakistan Christians seek protection after Lahore riot 10 March 2013 Last updated at 07:18 Christians in Pakistan have called for better protection after Muslims torched dozens of homes in the city of Lahore in response to a blasphemy allegation. Protesters gathered in Lahore and Karachi, the country's biggest city, to condemn Saturday's violence and ask for compensation for those affected. The Christians had already fled their homes when the mob struck but some policemen were hit by stones. Christians make up about 1.6% of Pakistan's mainly Muslim population. Allegations of blasphemy against Islam are taken very seriously with a number of controversial recent prosecutions. It appears that a crowd of Muslims went from a mosque on Friday to the house of a Christian man accused by a young Muslim of making offensive comments. The man was taken into police custody in a bid to pacify the crowd while hundreds of Christians fled their homes. Pakistan's blasphemy laws After partition in 1947 Pakistan inherited offences relating to religion, which were first codified by India's British rulers in 1860 In the 1980s clauses were added to the laws by the military government of General Zia-ul Haq One clause recommends life imprisonment for "wilful" desecration of the Koran. Another says blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment Muslims constitute a majority of those booked under these laws, followed by the minority Ahmadi community A majority support the idea that blasphemers should be punished, but there is little understanding of what religious scripture says as opposed to how the modern law is codified On Saturday, a mob began ransacking and burning their houses. A police officer, Abdul Majid, said later on Saturday that one group had taken it upon themselves to dispense justice. "Last night, after arresting the man [accused], I told everyone that I had arrested him and there was no need for any agitation but one group insisted that I should hand him over to them," he said. That group is responsible for all this. One Christian man whose house was torched, Jani Masih, asked why innocent Christians were being punished for one man's alleged crime. "What is our fault?" he asked AP news agency. What have we done? We could have been held responsible if we had done anything. This is cruel. Christians held small rallies after the violence to demand an inquiry. Father Peter John, from the Church of St Patrick in Karachi, urged the government to "see also that the people who are affected, their properties are burnt... get some sort of compensation."