QUETTA, May 15: Police used batons and tear gas against clerks who wanted to hold a demonstration outside the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Tuesday. A number of clerks were taken into custody.

Members of the Balochistan chapter of All Pakistan Clerks Association organised a meeting in favour of their demands and to present a charter of demands to the officials concerned.

Hundreds of clerks arrived in the city from different districts of the province and joined the protesters at the Liaquat Bagh. They carried placards and banners and proceeded to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

Police stopped them when they reached the hockey ground. On refusal to end the protest, police used batons and tear gas to disperse them after which they spread to Imdad, Manan and Science chowks.

The protesters burnt tyres and raised slogans against the government.

A spokesman for the APCA condemned police highhandedness against peaceful clerks and said the association would observe a strike in the province on Wednesday.

The spokesman said the protest would continue till the acceptance of their demands, including increase in salary in the coming budget and issuing of notification for house loans and conveyance allowances.