KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistani police fired tear gas and used batons on thousands of protesters in Karachi on Sunday after demonstrators tried to break through a security barricade.
About 2,000 supporters of a far-right Islamist party tried to join the city’s press club to oppose another protest by civil society groups over the killing of a suspect of blasphemy while in police custody.
Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan group threw stones at police officers and set fire to a patrol car when police prevented them from reaching the press club.
The party said one of its members died in the violence. The police arrested around twenty people at the two demonstrations.
Provincial Interior Minister Zia Ul Hassan said authorities feared clashes as the political party and civil society groups had issued calls for protests on the same day.
Ul Hassan condemned the violence, especially in view of the upcoming security summit in Islamabad and last week. deadly attack on a convoy of Chinese nationals in front of the city’s airport.
The TLP supports Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, which provide for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.
The source
