KARACHI, June 18: Frequent power breakdowns and prolonged loadshedding forced residents to stage violent protests in the city against the Karachi Electric Supply Company on Tuesday.

While there are widespread complaints of unannounced power cuts, low voltage and fluctuation from almost every area of the city, residents of Shah Faisal Colony and Malir on Tuesday took to streets against prolonged power failures.

The protesters blocked roads for vehicular traffic and some of them stormed a KESC office in Shah Faisal Colony, held the staff hostage and took them away in a KESC vehicle. Later, they released the held staff after a considerable period.

A group of protesting people also attacked another KESC office in Malir to vent their anger against prolonged outages.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Tuesday, the KESC condemned what it described as the “forceful possession” of its Shah Faisal Colony and Malir offices by “violent attackers” and claimed that massive damage had been caused to its assets.

It said that some KESC employees were held hostage for the whole day on Tuesday and they were not allowed to attend to faults in the area.

It said that the “attackers” at the Shah Faisal Colony demanded restoration of power supply to Reta Plot Flyover PMT, which had become faulty due to illegal overload and kundas and the outstanding dues had reached over Rs12 million and electricity loss was as high as 66 per cent.

The statement alleged that the local residents had regularly been attacking the KESC employees and vehicles, causing delays in attending to other complaints.It said that the attackers took 10 KESC employees as hostages and during the day, allowed two of them to go as they suffered cardiac problems.

The KESC also condemned the police for failing to protect its staff and assets and to ease the tension in the area where a violent mob had been blocking traffic also.

The power utility demanded adequate security at all such offices, including Malir and Shah Faisal Colony, which had regularly been subjected to violent attacks.