FAISALABAD, Jan 1: Thousands of baton-wielding textile workers ransacked public and private properties and vehicles, looted and torched a bakery and threw traffic out of gear for hours on different roads even in the presence of police in protest against power and gas loadshedding.

The year of 2009 began with protest rallies in different parts of the district which besieged the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) headquarters for nearly three hours. Major rallies were taken out in Jhang Road, Samundri Road, Ghulam Muhammadabad, Factory Area, Sargodha Road, Jaranwala Road and Chak 30. The Labour Qaumi Movement had given the protest call.

Protesters carrying banners, placards and iron rods in their hands blocked roads, burnt tyres, ransacked private and government property and damaged different vehicles, as police remained a silent spectator.

Protesters also forced shopkeepers to shut their shops and join them. The enraged mob threw stones on different shops in Factory Area whose owners had reportedly refused to lower their shutters.

Security guard of Treat Bakers, a few yards from the Fesco headquarters, opened fire and injured a labourer when a mob attacked the shop. The enraged mob looted items from the bakery. Similarly, the protesters looted dozens of flour bags loaded on a truck near Chak 30.

The residence of Pakistan People’s Party leader Mazhar Ali was also attacked by the mob, however, the crowd fled when the security guards of Mr Ali opened fire.

Mr Ali, who was injured in a brick attack, called the attack a conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan Muslim League-N with the collaboration of police.

The mob also tried to force railway officials to stop Rawalpindi-to-Karachi Pakistan Express at the Faisalabad railway station.

Outside the Fesco headquarters, speakers said it was appalling that rulers had done nothing to sacve thousands of workers from impending starvation because of the closure of industries. They said a number of times Fesco had been requested to observe scheduled loadshedding but to no avail.

The enraged mob dispersed after an assurance from Fesco chief executive Ahmed Saeed Akhtar that the company would observe eight to 10 hours scheduled power suspension.