KARACHI, March 12: Police fired teargas shells and baton-charged the participants of a procession that had turned violent, damaging public property and injuring two policemen and a dozen other people in Shah Faisal Colony on Tuesday. Two vehicles were also set on fire in the same locality by people protesting against Monday’s killings.

Funeral prayers for Anwar Ali Tirmizi and Zulfiqar Haider, shot dead on Monday night, were held at the Hussain Mission mosque at Shah Faisal Colony No 4 on Tuesday afternoon. The dead were later buried in the Shah Faisal Colony graveyard.

Eyewitnesses and police said the violence erupted when some of the angry youths in the procession started pelting moving vehicles and shops with stones. They also burnt old tyres in the streets on way to the graveyard.

The police tried to control the situation but failed to do so. The protesting youths set two vehicles on fire, one of them was saved from being gutted. The police resorted to teargas shelling and baton-charge to disperse the protesters, who were raising slogans against the police and the government.

A group of youths entered Shabnam Cinema and set it on fire, damaging it partially. The police reached the spot, hurled teargas shells and picked up some youths at the spot.

The shops and markets remained closed in the afternoon after the violence erupted in the locality. The city administration deployed the law enforcement agencies heavily in the area.

The streets and roads of Shah Faisal Colony were littered with stones and old smoldering tires.

The protesters staged a sit-in on Sharea Faisal against the police failure to control sectarian killings.

The law enforcement agencies had closed Sharea Faisal to traffic from Star Gate to the Drigh Road intersection for about two hours at the time of burial, causing hardship to commuters.

The police later, tried to disperse the protesters, who turned violent and started pelting stones on policemen. The police lobbed teargas shells and baton-charged the protesters to disperse them, who retaliated with rocks. ASI Ali Gohar, a constable Shabbir and a dozen of the protesters suffered injuries.