Police on Monday resorted to baton-charge and tear gassing of demonstrators protesting over the missing persons issue at D-Chowk in the federal capital city, wounding several people.
The protesters were attempting to approach the Parliament house in Islamabad’s Red Zone area. Police resorted to baton-charging and aerial firing and also fired tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators as a result of which several persons fell unconscious.
The resultant clash also left six police personnel, including two women and four men, wounded. Human rights activist and missing persons campaigner Amna Masood Janjua was also arrested by police personnel.
Police tried to confiscate the cameras and other equipment, of media teams trying to cover the incident. Television channels aired footage of several journalists who were wounded and had their equipment damaged due to the use of force by security personnel.
The police began to target the media persons when they gathered around Amna Janjua, to grab footage of police personnel manhandling and forcing the human rights campaigner into a vehicle.
At least three media persons were wounded in the police action. Moreover, several activists and media personnel were also taken into custody by law enforcers.
PM TAKES NOTICE:
Taking serious notice of the incident, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the authorities concerned to release the detained protesters at the earliest.
He said protesting peacefully was every citizen’s fundamental right which cannot be taken away from them. Sharif also ordered the authorities to look into the incident and sternly punish the culprits of manhandling rights activists and journalists.
