After days of violent anti-France demonstrations, Pakistan's government directed the country's telecoms agency to temporarily shut down social media and instant messaging sites on Friday.

The Interior Ministry demanded that Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Telegram be "completely blocked" before 3 p.m. in a notice to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (1100 GMT).

Since Friday morning, Pakistani internet users have been unable to access popular apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

The notice gave no explanation for the ban, but it came a day after the French embassy in Islamabad urged French nationals and businesses in Pakistan to leave temporarily after rallies organized by the hardline Islamist party Tehrik-i-Labaik (TLP) called for the expulsion of the French ambassador and a boycott of French goods.

Anti-French sentiment has been simmering in Pakistan for months, ever since French President Emmanuel Macron backed the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's right to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, which many Muslims consider blasphemy.

The Pakistani interior ministry announced earlier this week that the TLP would be outlawed and detained the group's chief, Saad Rizvi, in a move that triggered violent protests in which two police officers were killed and about 580 others were wounded.

A 'note' from an outlawed group's jailed leader

On Friday, Pakistan's weekly holiday, social media platforms were shut down as police moved to clear a massive protest in the eastern city of Lahore, and just hours after the government said Rizvi had urged his supporters to stand down.

Rizvi issued a statement asking his followers to disperse peacefully for the sake of the country, ending their key sit-in, which began Monday when police arrested the radical cleric for threatening protests if the government did not expel the French ambassador by April 20.

Following Rizvi's detention, his supporters staged violent sit-ins across the country, disrupting traffic. Thousands of Rizvi's supporters have gathered in Lahore, vowing to die in order to defend the honor of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, despite security forces clearing almost all of the rallies.

The late father's son takes over as the group's leader.

After his father, Khadim Hussein Rizvi, died suddenly in November, Rizvi became the TLP's leader. The late party leader was a key figure in stifling any attempts to amend Pakistan's harsh anti-blasphemy laws.

Last year, the party condemned Macron, alleging that he attempted to defend blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed as free speech.

Charlie Hebdo had republished the photographs to commemorate the start of the trial for the deadly 2015 attack on the publication for the initial caricatures.

Rizvi's organization has gained a reputation in recent years for resisting any changes to the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which allow someone suspected of insulting Islam or other religious figures to be sentenced to death if convicted.