<p>Eleven Pakistani police officers seized by supporters of a radical Islamist group as part of their campaign to get the French ambassador expelled have been released, officials said Monday.</p>.<p>The officers were grabbed as hostages Sunday by supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) during violent protests in Lahore.</p>.<p>Video circulating on social media -- and confirmed unofficially by police as genuine -- showed some of them bloodied and bruised, with bandages around their heads.</p>.<p>Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the police had been released early Monday after "negotiations" with the TLP, which the government banned last week after effectively labelling it a terrorist organisation.</p>.<p>The officers had been held at a TLP mosque stronghold in Lahore, which is now packed with supporters and surrounded by police.</p>.<p>"Negotiations have been started with TLP; the first round completed successfully," said Rashid in a video on Twitter.</p>.<p>"They have released 11 policemen who were made hostages."</p>.<p>He said a second round of negotiations would take place later Monday, although it is not clear what they will discuss.</p>.<p>Previously the TLP had set an April 20 deadline for the expulsion of the French ambassador.</p>.<p>The group has been behind an anti-France campaign for months since President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of Charlie Hebdo magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad -- an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.</p>
<p>Eleven Pakistani police officers seized by supporters of a radical Islamist group as part of their campaign to get the French ambassador expelled have been released, officials said Monday.</p>.<p>The officers were grabbed as hostages Sunday by supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) during violent protests in Lahore.</p>.<p>Video circulating on social media -- and confirmed unofficially by police as genuine -- showed some of them bloodied and bruised, with bandages around their heads.</p>.<p>Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the police had been released early Monday after "negotiations" with the TLP, which the government banned last week after effectively labelling it a terrorist organisation.</p>.<p>The officers had been held at a TLP mosque stronghold in Lahore, which is now packed with supporters and surrounded by police.</p>.<p>"Negotiations have been started with TLP; the first round completed successfully," said Rashid in a video on Twitter.</p>.<p>"They have released 11 policemen who were made hostages."</p>.<p>He said a second round of negotiations would take place later Monday, although it is not clear what they will discuss.</p>.<p>Previously the TLP had set an April 20 deadline for the expulsion of the French ambassador.</p>.<p>The group has been behind an anti-France campaign for months since President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of Charlie Hebdo magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad -- an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.</p>