December 28, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 17, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 27: Turbulent protests erupted in the provincial metropolis after the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Three people were shot dead in protest-related incidents in different parts of the city while three police vans were burnt.

PPP activists came out on roads and started shouting slogans against the government. They burnt tyres, vehicles, election banners and posters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, public transport, police vehicles, offices and houses of PML-Q office-bearers and a police check post.

Mobs smashed windowpanes of public and private transports and ransacked shops in different bazaars. They also resorted to aerial firing, witnesses said.

Three people were shot dead in Green Town, Shahdra and behind the Lahore Fort and dozens of others received injuries during indiscriminate firing by the protesters.

Three policemen were injured in a clash with protesters who attacked Sundar police check post.

Saddar Division Superintendent of Police Nizam Shahid Durrani, however, claimed that no such incident had taken place at the police check post.

Life disrupted soon after the news of the murder of Ms Bhutto broke out in the city and traders shut their shops to avoid any untoward situation. Traffic flow was also disturbed when people in panic rushed towards their destination.

Patrol pumps, gas stations, medical stores, food restaurants and other important food points were also closed and the city wore a deserted look.

Some offices and houses of PML-Q candidates and supporters were reportedly put on fire by PPP protesters in different parts of the city.

A furious mob burnt tyres and banners of PML-Q candidates in Makkah Colony, Gulberg, damaged some shops and burnt the UC-98 office.

“Protesters pelted the election office of Moonis Elahi with stones and tried to put it on fire,” Syed Tassawar Naqvi of Sindhu Estate Agency told Dawn. Another group burnt the clinic of Union Council 98 nazim Dr Zakaullah, a staunch supporter of Moonis, besides damaging his house at Makkah Colony, he said.

Protesters did not spare policemen and beat them who arrived there to save Moonis’s supporters.

Scattered groups of party workers, overwhelmed with grief, also blocked roads and burnt tyres in different parts of the city.

Protesters also burnt a police van outside the Lahore Press Club and another in Hunjarwal.

Areas where protests broke out were: Awan Town, Dharampura, Mughalpura, Garhi Shahu Chowk, Shahdra, Shahdra Town, Old Anarkali, Liaqatabad, Minar-i-Pakistan, Lakshmi Chowk, Chuhng, Baghbanpura, Chungi Amar Sidhu, Qilla Gujjar Singh Chowk, Ghaziabad, Green Town, Muslim Town, North Cantonment Jorray Pul, Makkah Colony, Firdous Market, Kot Lakhpat, Kalma Chowk, Hunjarwal and Walled City. Police baton charged protesters outside the Lahore Press Club, in Shahdara and different parts of the Walled City.

The city saw the worst traffic jams on The Mall, Egerton Road, Davis Road and Empress Road. Public transport disappeared from the roads in no time and commuters faced difficulties.

A witness told Dawn that mobs burnt at least four vehicles on Ghazi Road besides breaking windowpanes of several vehicles there.

A police source confided to Dawn that at least three police vehicles were burnt by the protesters.