MULTAN, April 14: At least 58 people were injured and two offices of the Multan Electric Supply Corporation and one of Nadra, a bank branch and several vehicles, including a police van, were set on fire after a rally against power outages turned into a riot.

Nine motorcycles and a jeep were among the torched vehicles while several other vehicles and buildings were damaged.

The rally initially comprised textile workers and labourers associated with the Power Looms Association, which was later joined by ordinary people as it made its way through the city.

Protesters carried banners and shouted slogans against Mepco. They said that they had been suffering power outages lasting 18 hours every day.

The protest turned violent when it reached the Gulburg locality where people torched a Mepco office and lit bonfires out of office furniture and record. Vehicles parked in the office compound were also damaged.

The protesters, who had by then increased in numbers, turned towards the Mepco headquarters situated at the Khanewal Road and burnt the building. The mob also set on fire a police van, nine motor bikes, a branch of the Punjab Bank, one jeep inside the perimeter of the Mepco headquarters.

When the protestors tried to enter the residential area of the power utility’s headquarters, security guards opened fire, injuring a few of them. A cameraman and a reporter of a private TV channel were also injured during the incident.

Protesters kept the Khanewal Road blocked and police and protesters clashed for more than four hours after which police used teargas shells and baton-charge to disperse the mob.

Mepco staff overpowered and detained about 35 of the protesters who had entered the building and later handed them over to the police.

The city has more than 6,000 powerloom units and about 500,000 people depend on them for their livelihood.

The Powerlooms Association had earlier warned that it would hold protests against lengthy power cuts. During the past several months, the city has been facing lengthy power outages every day.

Mepco’s Public Relation Officer Jamshaid Niazi said that more than 500 protesters were led by Bashir Ahmed Pehelwan, the president of the Powerlooms Association. He accused the president of the association and other office-bearers of having deliberately disconnected power supply to provoke the people.

He said that police did not try to stop the protesters and by the time they attacked Mepco headquarters, their numbers had swelled by more than 2,000 people.

He said that 28 Mepco staffers had been injured in the riot while the company sustained damages worth Rs7.5 million.

Khaliq Qandeel Ansari, the association’s general secretary, said that protesters were not involved in violence.

He said that more than 30 powerloom workers had been injured while police had arrested 46 members of the association, adding that police had refused to register an FIR against people who had fired at the protesters.

Mirza Mohammad Ali, the Additional Inspector-General of Police and Regional Police Officer, said in a press conference that police had arrested 50 people and an FIR had been lodged.

AFP adds: “Our workers and labourers are forced to starve,” Mr Qandeel said. “Due to the power cuts there is no work,” he said.