PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The protest, which occurred hours before the budget was to be presented in the National Assembly, changed into a clash as the police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesting farmers.
According to police, some 400 farmers from Punjab had gathered to demand subsidised fertilisers and electricity.
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A police officer told The Express Tribune that 175 protesters had been arrested. He said the protesters were being booked for "illegal assembly and obstructing public servants from discharging of their duties".
The capital city’s D-Chowk is a Red Zone area where organising public gatherings is illegal. The authorities had put blockades on the paths leading to the area but the farmers managed to reach the site via different routes.
The protest was organised by the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad and was demanding subsidiaries for the agriculture sector and a reduction in taxes. Protesters said the people who were making the budget for the farmers were not aware of the peasants’ problems.
They were hoping to hold talks with the government but were baton-charged by the police and FC contingents who outnumbered the protesting peasants. Both demonstrators and the law-enforcers openly pelted stones at each other. Police also used a water canon to disperse the crowd and took 175 of them into custody.
Earlier, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah had visited the protesting peasants in a show of solidarity.
Addressing the protesters, Shah criticised the government for what he called its "anti-poor policies". He said the current government had abandoned the poor and the peasants.
But soon after the opposition leader left, the police launched a crackdown and dispersed the protest.
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