ISLAMABAD: Despite trying her best, Zareena Bibi found it difficult to breathe on the premises of the Polyclinic hospital.

The 49-year-old resident of Satellite Town in Rawalpindi came to the hospital to see her son who was injured during a clash with the police on Sunday afternoon.

“My son had been participating in the PTI protest at D-Chowk for almost two weeks,” Bibi said, adding: “Today, a close friend of my son informed me that my son is in the hospital due to a rubber bullet injury, so I rushed to the hospital.”

She said it was difficult for her to breathe easily since the police had used excessive teargas around the premises of the hospital in Sector G-6.

According to visitors to hospital, clashes erupted between the police and the protesters near China Chowk, close to the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

Rabnawaz Shah, an official of the Islamabad police, said that the PTI protesters had captured four policemen and beaten them.

He said that the police used teargas to disperse the protesters from China Chowk.

“The PTI workers also broke the mirrors of four police buses,” Shah said.

Khushal Khan, 25, a resident of Mardan and a PTI supporter, alleged that the police were not giving the injured PTI workers an access to the hospital.

Resultantly, he said, the PTI supporters captured and beat up the policemen to take the injured to the hospital.

“We will not allow the police vans to use Fazl-i-Haq Road till the end,” Khan added.

Polyclinic spokesman Dr Tanveer Afzal Malik told Dawn that the patients and their attendants were now suffering more because of the excessive use of teargas around the hospital. He said that it was the responsibility of the government to engage the protesters away from the area.

“Around 284 injured victims have reached Polyclinic so far, including 44 police officials and 33 women,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2014