LAHORE, Feb 26: The public faced problems in movement in the area around the venue for the Sunday’s Shan-i-Mustafa rally and main offices of the parties taking part in the protest.

No public transport was available in most parts of downtown for either police had barricaded all roads there to block entry of protesters wanting to approach Nasser Bagh or vehicle owners were afraid of trouble.

Bhati Chowk, The Mall, Lower Mall Road, Ferozepur Road, Jail Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Wahdat Road, Multan Road and most of the link roads had been fenced early in the morning. The police disallowed even ambulances to ply on roads in these areas.

The driver of a Mansoora Hospital ambulance said the police had barred him from shifting any patient after 11am. He said he could not take a woman patient to her home in Manga Mandi when doctors discharged her from hospital, hoping the route would be cleared in the evening.

He claimed the police even frisked JI leader Hafiz Idrees’ cousin’s body when after death on Friday it was being taken to his hometown, Gujrat. Even handbags of women accompanying patients in the ambulance were being searched, he said.

Dr Muttahir, who was on duty in the Mansoora Hospital, said only 14 patients were brought to the emergency ward against 71 brought last Sunday.

Similarly, students and teaching staff of a nursery to secondary girl school and women college located in Mansoora were not allowed to reach their institutions.

The number of patients brought to the Social Security Hospital at Multan Chungi was very thin as the police had blocked Multan Road from both sides as well as Wahdat Road.