ISLAMABAD: PAT and PTI protesters occupying the Constitution Avenue continued to attempt to reach the Prime Minister House on Sunday. But, like last night, heavy barrages of police teargas shells kept them at bay.

Whenever an odd protester rushed forward to throw an incoming gas canister back, riot police chased him and beat him back.

Such skirmishes between police and PTI protesters were also witnessed outside the Polyclinic where many victims of last night’s violence were taken.

In the midst of their intermittent battles, the two sides blamed each other for starting the overnight bloody clash in which three protesters were killed.

Police Sub-Inspector Junaid Khan from Bhakkar, Punjab, told Dawn that orders to fire teargas and rubber bullets came from the Inspector General of Police of Islamabad “when the protesters lifted two containers (sitting atop two others blocking the road to the PM House), and tried to breakdown the gate of the Presidency” on Saturday night.

“In return, the protesters threw stones at us and put fire to some bushes and trees. Some of them used catapults to throw stones and marble balls, which injured several police officers,” he said.

Thousands of PAT and PTI workers had been staging sit-ins on the Constitution Avenue separately since August 15. But on Saturday, they came together for a “peaceful march” on the PM House after talks on their demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign broke down.Nerves frayed on all sides as police used batons and barrages of teargas shells and rubber bullets to stop the marchers, who included spirited men, women and children of all ages.

“PTI workers were removing the top two containers, placed near the Cabinet Division to block the way to the PM House, when police started firing bullets and teargas indiscriminately,” protester Akhtar Munir, a teacher from Abbottabad, told Dawn.

“It is not true that we wanted to enter the Presidency,” he said. “We just wanted to relocate our sit-in in front of the PM House.”

The resulting clashes – and mayhem – continued throughout the night and on Sunday intermittently.

“Women and children suffered the police brutality worst,” said Aamina Hassan, a PAT supporter.

“Most of them ran into the grounds of the parliament to escape the teargas. I am going to Melody (a market close to the ugly scene) to freshen up and will come back. I am not leaving the protest until the issue is resolved,” she said.

Protesters demand money

Some protesters, holding PTI flags and sticks, were seen accosting motorists on the Seventh Avenue and asking for money. “They demanded Rs100 from me,” said one victim.

When questioned, a youngster collecting the money told Dawn that it would buy food and water for the hundreds of PTI workers left untended by their leadership in the Red Zone.

“Unfortunately, our leadership is confined in its shipping container and we have to arrange food and water for the workers,” he said.

Citizen Abdul Shakoor, who fell a victim “to the extortion” said no vehicle could pass a certain spot on the Seventh Avenue without paying money. “Many motorists turned back on sensing what was going on,” he said.

Vehicles damaged in Blue Area

Alam Noor, an office worker in Blue Area, said he saw a group of protesters damaging police vehicles parked on Fazl-i-Haq Road and tried to set a few on fire. But police pushed them back “and smashed several motorcycles and cars, perhaps thinking they belonged to activists protesting in the nearby Red Zone”.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2014