By Terry Friel

KABUL, April 18 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's attorney-general, accused by critics of regularly breaking the law, has raided Tolo television, one of the country's most popular stations, over a news broadcast, Tolo said on Wednesday.

About 50 armed policemen raided Tolo's studio in an upmarket Kabul suburb on Tuesday night, assaulting staff and taking three senior journalists to the office of Attorney-General Abdul Jabar Sabet, Tolo said in a statement.

The attorney-general's office and the Interior Ministry, which oversees his operation, could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Dozens of journalists and lawmakers protested on Wednesday outside parliament against the raid, accusing President Hamid Karzai's government of smothering freedom of speech.

"Actually, the action and this order was 100 percent against the law, against the media law, against the constitution," Shukria Barakzai, an outspoken woman MP and former journalist, told Reuters at the rally.

"They really crossed the law. That's the reality. The enemies of the freedom of expression are not just those who are against this government."

The raid comes amid complaints, including by a group representing more than 100 aid agencies, that a new media law to be debated by parliament soon will restrict freedom of speech.

Tolo accused Sabet of breaking the law and said it had investigated his complaint and found it baseless.

"The attorney-general, Abdul Jabar Sabet, had complained of a news clip on the 6 p.m. Tolo TV news, which he claimed was inaccurate or misrepresented (his) comments at an earlier press conference," Tolo said.

'GROUNDLESS COMPLAINT' - TOLO

"After investigating the complaint, Tolo TV management found the complaint to be invalid. The Tolo TV news clip broadcast was accurate and representative of what the attorney-general had said."

Sabet has personally led raids on Kabul guesthouses and restaurants in which witnesses say police abused staff, stole alcohol and other goods.

At least 14 Tajiks and Nepalis were held for days before being charged with selling alcohol. Under Afghanistan's constitution, suspects must be charged within 24 hours or released, lawyers say. All 14 remain in jail.

The raids were ostensibly a crackdown on illegal alcohol sales, but witnesses say police drank seized alcohol during the raids. Sabet and his office have not answered questions about the raids or the accusations.

In those raids, neither Sabet nor the police produced documents authorising their actions, witnesses said.

Tolo also said it was given no valid order for Tuesday night's raid.

"The police did not have any legal documentation," Tolo said.

Journalists covering the raid were also detained and their tapes confiscated, witnesses said, in what Barakzai and other members of parliament say was a breach of the media law.

"The manner in which Tolo TV were physically abused and detained was completely unacceptable and against the law," Tolo said.

"The physical transgression into Tolo TV offices is against the Constitution and the laws of Afghanistan. The taking of Tolo TV staff to the attorney-general's office was against the law."

The raids underline widespread criticism that the police, supposed to be a key weapon in the battle for security in the face of a mounting Taliban insurgency, are corrupt, badly trained and hold themselves above the laws they are charged to enforce.

Critics also point to parliamentarians accused of war crimes voting themselves an amnesty -- then giving thousands a free hot lunch to join a rally in their support -- and note some villagers take disputes to Taliban parallel courts because they do not trust the government system.

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