KUNDUZ (Reuters) One man was shot dead when protesters, angry over plans by a US pastor to burn copies of the Holy Quran, attacked a NATO base in Afghanistans north on Friday, a provincial government spokesman said. A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by a spokesman for the Badakhshan province governor, had earlier poured into the streets after special Eid prayers. Some later hurled stones at a NATO base run by Germans and a protester was shot when troops inside opened fire, spokesman Amin Sohail said. Afghan security forces rushed to the scene to restore order and three police were hurt when hit by stones thrown by the crowd, the spokesman said. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said ISAF was aware of protests happening in Faizabad and were checking the incident. The protests died down later in the day. Demonstrations later spread to the capital, Kabul, and at least four other provinces. Eight Christian aid workers were killed by unidentified gunmen in remote and rugged Badakhshan last month. Officials said the German-run base was singled out after German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday paid tribute to freedom of speech at a ceremony for a Dane whose profane drawing of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) sparked deadly protests five years ago. Several hundred gathered in a northern district of Kabul, while about 2,000 marched on a government building in western Farah, officials and witnesses said. There were also protests in nearby Badghis in the northwest and Ghor and Herat in the west. In eastern Nangahar, tribal chiefs threatened to attack NATO bases near the Pakistan border if Jones went ahead with the plan. If they do this, we will attack American bases and close the highway used by convoys supplying American troops, a cleric named Zahidullah told Reuters. At mosques in the capital, clerics also labelled the plan dangerous. Muslims are ready to sacrifice their sons, fathers and mothers for Islam and the Holy Quran, one preacher said at one Kabul mosque to cries of Allahu Akbar.