LAHORE, Nov 13: Despite a heavy overt and covert police deployment in city to prevent PPP ‘long march’, small groups comprising the party activists managed to stage brief but intense demonstrations at some places.

Although it remained peaceful throughout the day, the presence of so many police caused a sort of concern among people.

Police arrested four PPP activists after they tried to stage a demonstration in Shahdara.

Small groups of PPP activists reportedly burnt tyres at Jain Mandir and in front of the University of Engineering and Technology on GT Road. Their modus operandi was similar; slogan chanting in favour of their party chairperson and against Gen Musharraf, tyre burning and vanishing in the thin air before the police arrives.

Another group of around 20 PPP activists appeared on Davis Road where there was no police. They burnt tyres and took to their heels while raising anti-government slogans.

PPP activists also burnt tyres at Regal Chowk and Atari.

Elsewhere in the city it remained peaceful but tense, mainly for the parents of school going children, many of them not sending their wards to their respective educational institutions fearing unrest in the city. The children, whose parents dared ignore the unrest threat, however, appeared unmindful of the tension that might grip the city upon their return home in the afternoon.

Police in anti-riot gear started taking positions everywhere in the city early in the morning to frustrate any designs by the PPP activists to stage demonstrations, or to move towards the Defence area where Ms Bhutto had been detained. Their early morning arrival at their places of duty in trucks and buses contrasted the movement of vehicles carrying students to schools and colleges.

Meanwhile, business continued throughout the day with traders and police at tenterhooks, both sharing the apprehension regarding protesters appearing suddenly and making their respective jobs tougher, especially in the downtown.

The long march and the efforts to block it too remained the topic of the day in majority government offices where officials continued to ask for any trouble in the streets to ensure their safe return to their homes.

The sigh of relief finally came at around dusk when police started packing up, making people believe that there would be no trouble afterwards.

All entries to the city on Multan Road and across the Ravi on the GT Road were barricaded and everyone suspected of being a PPP worker stopped and frisked.

A similar picket was also set up on The Mall near the Lahore High Court building for the first time since the imposition of the emergency, sending a wave of concern among people, even for whom watching heavy police contingents in front of the high court had become a routine matter.

Everyone crossing the picket comprising two rows of barriers manned by rifle-carrying constables had to slow down their vehicles. And those beckoned to stop too had to face questioning and frisking.

Interestingly, luxury jeeps, which normally overawe the traffic police because of the assumption that these might belong to some big guns, were subjected to special checking, almost all of them being stopped and searched.

Police high-ups concentrated especially on The Mall where additional force was deployed. Nila Gumbad and the shrine of Data Gunj Bukhsh were two other main points where police apprehended agitation. They continued to wait for the PPP activists at these two points throughout the day having the assistance of especially trained “protestor-picker” plainclothesmen who mingled with people so as to nab the demonstrators unaware.

Police officers and officials from the investigation wing comprised the entire force put on the roads.