Violent clashes erupted Friday between police and Islamists in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore after security forces tried to stop thousands of demonstrators from leaving the city for the capital, Islamabad, where they planned to stage a pro-Palestinian rally outside the U.S. Embassy, officials said.
The clashes in the capital of Punjab province began on Thursday but intensified on Friday after police baton-charged the demonstrators and fired tear gas to disperse them at multiple locations. In response, protesters hurled stones at officers.
In a statement, the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, or TLP, claimed that two of its supporters had been killed and 50 others injured since Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Punjab provincial government, which is headed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the niece of the prime minister.
The protest comes after Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire plan brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. Speaking to thousands of worshippers in Lahore earlier at Friday prayers, TLP’s chief Saad Rizvi announced the march, saying, “We will now march from Lahore to the U.S. Embassy” in Islamabad.
He said, “I will walk at the head of the long march. Arrest is not a problem, bullets are not a problem, shells are not a problem — martyrdom is our destiny.”
However, police officers were swinging batons and firing tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrators near the main office of the TLP, according to witnesses, who said due to the police’s use of tear gas, residents also faced severe difficulties.
The violence has disrupted daily life in parts of the city, where residents struggled to return home because of road closures and continued clashes between police and TLP members.
On Friday, authorities shut schools, colleges and universities in Lahore.
The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has suspended mobile internet service in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi as part of measures aimed at preventing demonstrators from reaching the national capital.
Authorities have placed shipping containers along main motorway, the main highways and roads leading to Islamabad to block protesters from entering.
Lahore is about 350 kilometers (210 miles) from Islamabad.
Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry said Thursday that the TLP had not submitted a request for permission to hold the rally. The group denied the claim, saying it had applied for permission for a peaceful march to express solidarity with Palestinians.
The TLP, known for staging disruptive and sometimes violent protests, has drawn criticism online, with many users accusing the government of overreacting by blocking roads with shipping containers even before the demonstrators began their so-called “long march.”
“Why are these demonstrators coming to Islamabad for the rally when the peace process has already started in Palestine?” asked Mohammad Ashfaq, 35, as he turned back from a roadblock in Islamabad.
He said he tried using longer routes to reach the city, but police had also blocked those roads with shipping containers. “Now I’ll have to figure out again how to reach my office,” he said.