FAISALABAD, May 15: Nine people, two of them constables, were grievously injured in a clash between police and the public over possession of a valuable tract at Ghulam Muhammadabad here on Sunday.

The police teams resorted to baton-charge, teargas shelling and aerial firing and arrested over two dozen people, some of them notables of the area.

Earlier, the people also pelted stones at the police parties and put up strong resistance to handing over of a ‘disputed’ property to a man by a court bailiff.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that civil judge Rana Muhammad Azam deputed a court bailiff on an application moved by Muhammad Boota and his son, Yaseen Gujjar, for the possession of one-acre piece of land. The judge took the decision following an order of the Supreme Court, which gave a verdict in favour of the applicants.

The bailiff, accompanied by hundreds of policemen, commandos and the Elite Force, rushed to the site where a green park had been developed by the area people.

As soon as the police asked Azam to take possession of the land, the mob put up resistance and refused to allow handing over the plot to the applicant. The situation worsened when the police baton-charged the people to disperse them, but the latter pelted stones in reaction. The protesters claimed that the land was meant for public recreation.

During the clash, two constables and seven of the protesters were injured. They were hospitalized.

The police and other forces, however, arrested over two dozen people and locked them up in the area police station. They also succeeded in handing over the possession of the plot to the applicant and deployed armed commandos to avoid any untoward incident.

The police claimed that cases would be registered against the arrested people for obstructing official working and attacking the law enforcers.