简体中文
At least eight people including two women and one policeman were killed and over 80 others injured on Tuesday during clashes between police and protesters in Pakistan's eastern metropolitan of Lahore, local media and officials said.
City Police Chief Shafiq Gujjar said the clashes started on Tuesday morning when the workers of a political party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) protested against the police who were trying to remove security barriers in front of the party's headquarters in model town area of Lahore, the provincial capital of eastern Punjab province.
Police started baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters who were resisting by throwing stones at the policemen.
The situation became tense when a police officer got injured by stones thrown by the protesters.
The police officers on duty reportedly called police commandos, who reached the site and opened straight fire at the protesters killing seven including two women and left over 80 others injured.
Rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to hospitals.
An emergency was imposed in the hospitals and a public announcement was made for blood donations.
Hospital sources said eight bodies and over 80 injured including 17 policemen were brought to the hospital.
According to the reports, the death toll may further rise as a number of injured were in critical condition and were being under observation in the intensive care units.
Police officer also claimed to have arrested 12 workers of the party besides recovering weapons from them.
Chief Minister of the province Shahbaz Sharif expressed sympathies to the mourning families and announced a judicial commission would be established to prepare an inquiry report about the incident.
The incident happened one week before the scheduled arrival of the PAT chief Tahirul Qadri from Canada, who has announced he will start a countrywide movement against the incumbent government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after his arrival in Pakistan next week.
Opposition parties condemned the incident and walked out of the parliament over the incident and demanded a quick and fair inquiry into the matter.
Meanwhile, an opposition party in the parliament Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) condemned the police action and called for a country-wide day of mourning on Wednesday.
The Anjam Tajir Ithad (ATI), a representative organization of business community, announced a shutdown strike on Wednesday against the police torture in Lahore.
Following the killings, a wave of countrywide protests started and workers of the PAT blocked main roads in different cities and chanted slogans against the incident.
