ISLAMABAD: Unlike the last two boring days, the ‘Azadi’ marchers spent Tuesday preparing for entering the Red Zone.

Though the number of the crowd had decreased in the afternoon, the gathering swelled when all the participants came back to the site after taking rest in different areas.

Some of the ‘Azadi’ marchers were seen sharing tips on how to protect themselves from the expected police teargas shelling.

“You should keep with you masks, water and handkerchiefs to protect yourself from the teargas,” Mohammad Hanif, 40, a PAT worker from Lahore and a schoolteacher, told a group of youngsters from Peshawar.

He said one could not control their tears in the wake of shelling and sometimes it would also create breathing problems. “You should carry a mask, a bottle of water and salt. I tried these ‘protective gears’ when the police opened teargas shelling in Model Town in June.”

Later, talking to Dawn, Mr Hanif added that he had been in Islamabad for the last two days.

PTI worker Sharjeel Khan from Peshawar said he and some other party workers had no idea about the expected reaction of the government. They said some PAT workers told them how to protect themselves from the teargas.

He said most of the people had come to take part in the march for the first time and they didn’t know how to avoid the police baton charge and teargas shelling. He said the people were committed to bringing a change and would go back after completion of the task.

Umer Khan, from Nowshera, said he was a businessman and in his absence his father was looking after his work. “I have bought a mask and salt to avoid teargas,” he said.

He said most of the participants feared that if they entered the Red Zone, there would be clash with the law enforcement agencies.

However, he said the participants of the sit-in were feeling bored and had started going somewhere else and coming back to spend night at the site of the sit-in.

Mohammad Shahid, a resident of Chaklala Scheme-II, said he had come along with his friends to participate in the sit-in. He said his parents had allowed him to visit the venue on the condition that he would slip out of the site in case of a police action.

He said they had parked their vehicles at Zero Point so that they could escape if the situation deteriorated.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014