CHITRAL, Dec 25: Several people of Ayun village were injured on Sunday when police resorted to baton charge and fired teargas shells to break a protest of the villagers who were demanding to shift a checkpost of the forest department from the village.

Eyewitnesses told this correspondent that the scuffle started when about 4,000 villagers took out a protest procession and moved close the forest checkpost in the village. They said that the police resorted to baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protestors, which left several villagers injured.

The villagers also pelted stones on the policemen. They complained that during indiscriminate shelling a number of shells hit the houses around the checkpost that forced their women and children to leave their homes.

The villagers, including women, later blocked the road by erecting obstacles.

To reinforce the police force, the personnel of Chitral Scouts were also called to the area. Sources said that police had also arrested about 50 people. However, the police were tight-lipped about the number of arrested people.

When contacted, Chitral DCO Rahmatullah Wazir told Dawn that the villagers were trying to take law into their hands. He said that an agreement had been reached between the district administration and the villagers about protection of the forest, but the latter violated it.