Multan mob: Sheikh Rashid’s hotel pelted with rotten eggs

Protesters try to enter hotel; police defend ‘democratic right to protest’

MULTAN:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supporters took a page out of the PTI playbook on Thursday when they gathered outside a hotel in Multan to target Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid with chants of ‘Go Imran, Go’.

The protesters pelted the hotel with rotten eggs as they attempted to enter the building. The protesters said they were responding to attacks on Javed Hashmi, who was heckled by PTI supporters after Eid prayers.”

Earlier, almost 150 political workers gathered in front of Multan Press Club, raising slogans of “Go Imran, go” and “Go Talli, go”, referring to Sheikh Rashid. As an estimated 150 more workers joined the protesters, the crowd marched to a nearby hotel where Sheikh Rashid was staying.

The protesters demanded that the hotel administration remove Sheikh Rashid from the hotel and broke several windows as they continued to egg the building. “We cannot stop the PML-N workers, because it is their democratic right to protest,” SP Cantt Multan told the media. However, the PML-N denied any hand in the protests. “This is a natural reaction of the people of Multan and the PML-N is not involved in this,” PML-N district president Bilal Butt told The Express Tribune.

“I am not a coward. I will stay here,” Express News quoted Sheikh Rashid as saying as the protesters gathered outside his hotel.

PTI’s South Punjab youth wing organised a peace rally in Multan on Thursday and all participants marched to the venue for Imran Khan’s rally today. After hearing of the demonstration outside Sheikh Rashid’s hotel, these participants marched towards the Press Club. Police officials and PML-N supporters fled the scene soon after.

In a press conference held after the crowd dispersed, Sheikh Rashid said, “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is behind this incident.” He went on to add that the premier would be held responsible if anything happened to him. “My war is with the prime minister, not the premier’s children,” Rashid said. “The media knows who they [the protesters] are, I do not have to name them. They are familiar faces,” Rashid said, adding that the police also supported the protesters.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2014.