DADU, Nov 16: A large number of people on Saturday staged a demonstration to protest after demolition of shops by the administration of the Taluka municipal committee, Dadu.

The protesters, who included shopkeepers and workers of various political parties and non-governmental organisations, were led by the chief of the district chamber of commerce, Ghulam Shah Malkani, and its general secretary, Mohammad Usman Memon.

Later, speaking at a news conference, they said that the taluka council administration had razed a large number of shops in Shahi Bazaar, Station Road, Rai Bazaar and the Sarafa Bazaar on the pretext of removing encroachment.

They said that the municipal committee had issued notices to 3,000 shopkeepers asking them to remove their shop’s front part, adding that none of the shopkeepers had occupied the road in the bazaars.

They said that the Taluka municipal committee had announced to construct a three-foot-wide footpath in the middle of the Shahi Bazaar Road, which was already too narrow. They threatened to stage a strike if the footpath was constructed.