A day of protest: Trouble on The Mall

Protesters clash with police.

LAHORE:

Though the protests in Lahore were largely peaceful, there were some areas where heavy containers and police contingents were unable to control angry protesters.

Apart from the roads leading to the US Consulate, most of the troubled happened on the nine-kilometres of The Mall.

The city’s main artery had little traffic until after Friday prayers, when various religious parties took to the streets. Many of the rallies met up at The Mall.

The first skirmish took place near Naqi Market. The protesters tried to remove the containers that had been placed on the road to stop them from moving forward. Police fired tear gas from the other side but had to retreat when another rally arrived from the Canal Road side. The protesters were able to turn over one of the containers to make way.

A huge poster with pictures of Salman Rushdie, Terry Jones and Sam Bisaeel, with the hangman’s noose, around their necks, was put up at Charing Cross. Men and women threw shoes and pelted it with stones. The acitivity, however, could not continue for long because some of the protesters tore it down and set it on fire.

The Governor’s House was the next stop for the demonstrators who shouted slogans against the PPP leadership. Pictures of PPP leaders were pelted with stones. The federal government was lambasted for not severing diplomatic ties with America. The police contingents on duty had to fire tear gas to disperse them.

A man had to be taken to hospital after he injured himself by jumping from a pole near Istanbul Chowk. As Sunni Ittehad Council chairman Fazale Karim reached the chowk, two activists of the SIC climbed up the pole in the middle of the chowk to hoist the SIC flag. That is when one of the men asked the people to move away so he could jump down to join them. People on the ground told him not to, but he recited the Kalma and jumped. He was taken to a hospital in a private van. His identity could not be ascertained and Rescue 1122 and Edhi services were unaware later of what became of him.

Other rallies

A rally on Ferozepur Road, from Chungi Amar Sidhu, that started small turned into a big one after smaller rallies from Factory Area, Chuhng and Kot Lakhpat joined in.

A Jamat-i-Islami rally taken out from Multan Road marched up to Bhekewal Chowk.

Services Hospital staff and members of the civil society protested at Jail Road. Ganga Ram Hospital staff held a protest at Queens Road.

Political parties’ rallies

The rallies organised by more maintsream political parties were smaller than those of religious parties.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers took out a rally from in front of Majid-i-Shuhuda on The Mall. It was supposed to end at Charing Cross but ended a few hundred metres short where it came upon large containers that blocked the road.

Pakistan Peoples Party workers gathered in front of the Press Club to protest. Federal Minister Samina Khalid Ghurki was leading the protest. The group was to walk to the Punjab Assembly but could not go forward because of the containers that had been placed on the adjacent roads. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) rally was led by Ahsan Rasheed, Ijaz Chaudry and Mehmoodur Rasheed. The participants demanded that the government take up the issue at international fora to avoid such incidents in the future.

Police

During the protests, four tear gas guns were snatched away from a police official. Inspector General of Punjab Police Habibur Rehman later appealed whoever had taken away the guns to return them.

Traffic Police wardens who were on duty on Friday worked with black armbands to protest the film.

With additional reporting by Rana Tanveer

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2012.