KARACHI, Sept 17: A large number of students from different colleges and universities clashed with police for more than two hours on Monday at the PIDC traffic intersection and nearby neighbourhoods as the anti-hate film protesters attempted to march towards the US consulate-general on M.T. Khan Road, triggering tear gas shelling, firing and causing traffic gridlock in the downtown district.

Associated with the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) — the Jamaat-i-Islami students’ wing — the protesters emerged from Government Commerce and Economics College on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road and marched towards the US consulate but were stopped on their way by the law enforcers at the PIDC traffic intersection.

The situation turned ugly when a heavy contingent of police backed by Rangers personnel moved in as the protesters attempted to defy security arrangements.

To stop the protesters, the law enforcers fired teargas shells and shots into the air, while the charged youth hurled stones at them, turning the PIDC traffic intersection into a battlefield. As the scuffles broke out, dozens of students managed to cross the barriers but many of them were baton-charged and picked up by the police.

Motorists emerged as the worst sufferers in the situation, as hundreds of vehicles started piling up on Club Road, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, I.I. Chundrigarh Road and almost all adjoining arteries paralysing traffic system in the south district.

Several other protest demonstrations staged outside the Karachi Press Club against the anti-Islam film added to the traffic congestion in the Saddar area and on Sharea Faisal. An official at the traffic police helpline 915 said the traffic took almost three to four hours to restore completely.

As the protesting students managed to dodge the policemen and entered the nearby Sultanabad and Hijrat Colony, the police also fired teargas shells in the thickly-populated neighbourhoods compelling residents to flee homes to avoid suffocation.

The IJT leaders blamed the police authorities for ‘sabotaging their peaceful protest’ though the law-enforcers blamed the students’ organisation for defying the set rules of security arrangements in the Red Zone despite ‘very clear warning’.

“We were peaceful and formally announced our plan to exercise our democratic right,” said an IJT spokesman. “The police and administration deliberately turned it violent. Firstly, the college administration announced that it would suspend all educational activities in colleges in south zone and asked students to go home so that they could not participate in the rally. Secondly, the police showed brutality without any prior warning that left our 20 workers injured.”

The police, however, defended their action in the wake of the Sunday violence that left police vans and a police post near the consulate destroyed.

“They [IJT leaders] were conveyed very loud and clear that their protest has been recorded and they must clear the road and avoid marching towards the consulate,” said SSP South Asif Ejaz Sheikh.

“They agreed initially but we don’t know what happened that they remerged on the road and decided [to go] against [it]. We picked up some 40 or 50 activists only to prevent violence and released them later in the night.”

Free legal aid

On a province-wide strike call given by the Sindh Bar Council against the anti-Islam film made in the US, lawyers stayed away from courts on Monday, while the Karachi Bar Association announced to provide free legal aid to protesters booked by the police for holding rallies against the hate film.

The KBA set up a five-member committee that would look into the cases of protesters booked by the police while staging demonstrations against the blasphemous film. The city and Malir district courts wore a deserted look and hundreds of cases fixed for the day were put off.

While under-trial prisoners were not brought to the courts from jails because of the strike, police produced newly-arrested suspects in courts to get their remand.

Work at the Sindh High Court, anti-terrorism courts, control of narcotics substance courts, accountability courts and banking courts was also badly affected by the strike.

The Sindh High Court Bar Association adopted a resolution at its general body meeting to condemn the makers of the anti-Islam film and urged the US and European Union to make laws to ban blasphemous acts in their respective countries.

One dies at hospital

One of the wounded protesters shifted to a private hospital died during treatment on Monday.

Syed Ali Raza Taqvi and five others were wounded near the US consulate-general when police opened fire in an attempt to disperse the crowd protesting the hate film.

The protest rally was organised by Imamia Students Organisation and Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen.

The victim’s body was moved from the hospital on Monday afternoon to Incholi where funeral prayers were held.

All commercial activities in Incholi remained suspended, with reports of intermittent firing in the area. All shops on the route of the funeral procession had already been closed by the police.

Mr Taqvi was buried in the Wadi-i-Hussain graveyard.

In the evening, a bus was set on fire within the remit of the Samanabad police station. The police claimed that it was partially damaged in the fire.