ISLAMABAD, April 25: Police resorted to baton charge to prevent the protesting clerks from marching towards Parade Avenue, which has been declared a ‘no-go’ area for protesters, on Wednesday.

Over 1,000 workers of All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) staged a protest in front of the National Press Club demanding increase in their salaries.

Later they marched towards the Parade Avenue. However as the clerks tried to enter the avenue, the police roughed them up and seven workers, including APCA provincial president Akhtar Rasool, were injured in the police baton charge.

The protesters then decided to stage a sit-in and said they would not leave the place till their demands were met.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Samsam Bukhari reached the spot and assured the clerks that all their demands would be fulfilled. He said APCA representatives would be called to hold negotiations before 2pm on Thursday (today). He requested the protesters to reconsider the decision of staging sit-in indefinitely.

Earlier, leaders of APCA Syed Hidayat Yar Bukhari, Dost Mohammad Birohi, Yousuf Kakar, Malik Adalat, Sardar Hanif and others said clerks were the most deprived segment of the community.

“We have been demanding our rights for years but successive governments have done nothing for us,” they said.

Unprecedented price hike, they said, had made it impossible for them to arrange bread and butter for their families. They demanded that their salaries be increased by 100 per cent and their extra allowances, including medical allowance,be adjusted in accordance with the price hike.

They said the government policies were not favourable for the clerks so they were considering taking extreme steps, adding thatthey would come on the roads and remain there till their problems were solved.

Sardar Hanif, member of APCA governing body, while talking to Dawn, said at the moment there were thousands of clerks who had been working on contract basis for the last over 12 years but their services were not regularised.

He said: “More than 2,000 clerks and other staff have become jobless after the devolution of various ministries in line with 18th Amendment. They should be adjusted in other ministries and departments. We are being forced to take unwanted steps.”

Station House Officer (SHO) of Shalimar police station, Inspector Rasheed Niazi said the police did nothing but just stopped protesters from entering the Parade Avenue.