At least seven Pakistan police officers and special rangers were taken hostage Sunday by supporters of a radical Islamist party, officials said, after days of violent anti-France protests.

"The TLP members are holding five police officers and two rangers hostage," Rana Arif, a police spokesman in Lahore told AFP, referring to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan group.

Firdous Ashiq Awan, a spokeswoman for the Punjab provincial government, said 12 policemen had been abducted and taken to a TLP mosque in Lahore, where hundreds of supporters were gathered.