Road rage: Tired of traffic, protesters block Ravi Bridge

Residents say traffic from GT Road has made living in Saeed Park hell.

LAHORE: Residents of areas around Ravi Bridge blocked GT Road with burning tyres on Sunday in protest at gas load shedding and the frequent traffic jams at the bridge due to security measures.

The two-hour demonstration caused severe traffic jams on both sides of the bridge as the club-wielding protesters would not let vehicles pass. The police did not try to confront them at first, but once the protesters started dispersing they removed the burning tyres and opened the road to traffic.

The protesters want security barricades placed at an entrance to the city removed because they said they greatly slowed traffic on the main road and led to congestion on the inner roads. “Because of the traffic jams, motorists use the roads in Saeed Park to avoid the traffic jam,” said one protestor. “This has been going on since the start of Muharram.”

Union Council-8 PPP president Arshad Mahmood Lodhi, who led the protest, told The Express Tribune that there had been no gas supply in the area for the last eight days, meaning people were unable to cook food. “The shops have run out of bread, rusk and biscuits because that’s all people have been eating for the last week,” he said.

He said the heavy traffic in their streets had made their lives miserable. “The security agencies set up these barriers thinking about security but they did not think about what they were doing to Saeed Park,” he said.

Lodhi said that Saeed Park residents had several times stopped vehicles from entering their streets, resulting in several clashes.

Some residents had placed barriers to prevent vehicles entering, but unless they monitored the barriers at all times, motorists would remove them. “We cannot depute permanent volunteers to regulate the traffic,” he said.

Adnan Tariq, another protester, said the residents had sought the help of the authorities on several occasions, but in vain. “All this traffic makes the streets of Saeed Park look like GT Road,” he said. “People have stopped letting their children out. There have been several incidents where children narrowly escaped being run over by vehicles.”

Deputy Superintendent of Police Riaz Shah said although the protesters were very animated, there was no violence towards police or damaged to vehicles. He said that the protesters dispersed peacefully.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2010.