LAHORE, Feb 17: What happened on the streets of Lahore last Tuesday and Wednesday has raised many questions. Here, an attempt has been made to ascertain as to who the average rioter is.

Is he the ordinary bearded man in the street or a disgruntled, frustrated young man? A seminary student? A political activist? Or just a common criminal, a petty thief, a troublemaker, etc. Following are brief caricatures of some of the rioters involved in the violent protests:

Bashir, in his 50s, is an automobile mechanic and resides in an impoverished locality close to the TV station, off Abbot Road. Losing his business somehow, he had started washing cars at a nearby service station but this job, too, did not last long and he gave it up for unknown reasons. He has two sons, both unemployed. Having a full meal for the family of six, including Bashir’s old parents, is a luxury.

He says his jobless sons just wander around as urchins, frustrated at their destitution. People in the neighbourhood say they heard the two brothers proudly telling their friends of their “successful strikes” on Tuesday.

One of the brothers reportedly showed off a number of mobile phone sets he said they had lifted from a telecom company’s office during the riot. “We put on fire a restaurant on The Mall and smashed each and every thing that came our way in the adjacent buildings,” they were also heard boasting.

Sajid Hameed, son of a physician living on Outfall Road, has just completed his master’s in physics. He says he left his home on Tuesday to join the rally on The Mall “for showing his disapproval of the irresponsible attitude of some western newspapers.”

He had to leave his motorcycle at home as rowdy youngsters had blocked almost all roads and intersections in the area by setting ablaze old tyres and wooden boxes. Even the motorists with families were not allowed to pass, and those who dared to proceed were frightened by the baton-wielders, and made to turn around and go back.

Covering the distance on foot, Sajid says he reached The Mall only to be disgusted by scenes of bands of teenagers vandalising and looting public and private property without any let or hindrance.

“That’s not the way to show your devotion to the Prophet (PBUH),” he lamented, wondering why the law-enforcement personnel were not swinging to action to curb the handful of miscreants and to calm down the situation.

A reporter who was accompanying an “advance party” of protesters from Bhati Chowk to The Mall observed that many of the participants wielding batons were rattling roadside signboards and advertisements.

Reaching the Lower Mall police station, they also hit its main gate. As they were rebuked by the policemen present inside, the marchers started pelting stones on the building, smashing its windows and damaging vehicles parked nearby.

Another mediaman covering Tuesday’s procession on The Mall says he was surprised to see two baton-wielding men from his village who were employed with a law-enforcement agency. The men, said the journalist, were in their civvies. “What are you doing here?” he asked them. “We are on duty; will talk to you later,” came the reply as the men disappeared into the crowd.

A businessman watching the violence from the window of his office on The Mall, opposite the Dyal Singh Mansion, claimed to have seen a couple of men, first covering their faces with handkerchiefs and then directing the rioters as to which target they should take on first.

A PIA official at the airline building adjacent to the Wapda House, during the trouble, said that police first resorted to aerial firing in a bid to disperse the miscreants approaching The Mall from Egerton Road and then they took to their heels, giving a free hand to the rioters to play havoc with the PIA building.

Vehicles parked there and the Punjab Assembly building across the road fell to the protesters’ wrath.

This reporter also spoke to two seminary students, who supported the call for protest but said they did not approve of the violence that took place.

Hafiz Shaukat has done his intermediate and is in the 6th year of the Dars-i-Nizami at the Jamia Naeemia in Garhi Shahu, the seminary that gave the call for Tuesday’s strike. He says he did not approve of the behaviour of the protesters on Tuesday.

“Islam does not allow damaging enemy’s property and assets even during a war that have no direct link with the fight. How can you vandalise the assets and property of your own people in the name of religion?” he asked.

A student of the Jamia Nizamia, Lohari Gate, another seminary that was active in the strike stressed that protest should always be as peaceful as possible. This would bring the maximum number of people on roads and put pressure on the government to sever diplomatic ties with Denmark and other offending countries. “Violence frightens the people and forces them to stay indoors, damaging the very cause,” he concluded.

This is all very well and makes good sense, but there will be many who will remain sceptical of such logical outpourings on the part of the seminary students.

The rally, claim the organisers, was to be taken out at 2pm after Zohr prayers at the Data Darbar mosque. But arson and violence on its proposed route and in the adjoining areas had commenced much earlier, with much of the ugly episode completed before 1.45pm.

Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi, the chief organiser of the procession, says he received a call on his cellular phone about what was happening on The Mall but he rejected it as an attempt at spreading ‘disinformation’ by those opposed to the protest.

The government blamed the activists of religious parties for the violence, however, the TV footage revealed that many clean-shaved and jeans-clad people were also damaging and setting on fire buildings and vehicles. The organisers refuted the chief minister’s claim that they had taken the responsibility of maintaining law and order during the rally.

“We had just sought permission for taking out the rally and not the responsibility to manage the city,” Dr Naeemi told reporters.

Engineer Saleemullah Khan, another organiser, cried: “I’ve attended scores of rallies and processions but none like Tuesday’s. The police customarily march alongside the participants all the way up to the termination point to check the mixing of troublemakers into the crowd. This was not the case on Tuesday,” he concluded.