KARACHI, July 30: Hundreds of people staged a sit-in, lit bonfire and blocked the Gulshan-i-Iqbal bridge on Sir Shah Suleman Road in protest against a long spell of power failure.

Police resorted to teargas shelling and baton-charged protesters, who, in turn, pelted the law-enforcement personnel with stones. The vehicular traffic remained suspended for hours on Sir Shah Suleman Road. The police diverted traffic from Liaquatabad to alternative routes while the traffic going towards Liaquatabad from Hasan Square was also diverted to other routes.

People were chanting slogans against the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation for not restoring power supply to Bandhani Colony near Gulshan bridge for the past three days. They took to the street and pelted moving vehicles with stones and lit bonfire, resulting in suspension of vehicular traffic.

The police initially asked the people to stay away from the main road and tried to push them into narrow lanes and bylanes. This resulted in a clash between the agitating people and the police, who ultimately resorted to baton-charging the protesters.

The protest, which began in the evening, continued late into the night.

However, the town police officer of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Ajmal Khan Magsi, said: “The people protested against power failure in their area near Issa Nagri. The Gulshan police controlled the situation and opened the road for traffic.”

The Nazim of Union Council No 5, Mohammad Siddiq Rathore, said that residents had taken to the streets to protest against a three-day-long power breakdown.

He added that complaints had been lodged with zonal managers of the KESC but no step had been taken by the power utility to end the crisis.

However, a spokesman for the KESC said no protest had taken place against the power utility. He added that a KESC vehicle had been damaged by some people in Bandhani Colony in the evening.

He said a cable fault had occurred in the locality the previous night which would be fixed shortly.

LANDHI: Residents of Landhi’s 36-F, 5-A, and 4-A areas suffered a power suspension of several-hours long on Wednesday.