FAISALABAD: Ghulam Mohammadabad police on Sunday registered a case against more than five dozen protesters for attacking police station and damaging its building following arrest of 19 people on Saturday night from an “outhouse”.

Police said a local, Babar Qureshi, had been using his outhouse as Imamabargah (Shia mosque) without getting any official permission in this regard.

The police said many residents of the area had filed complaints against Mr Qureshi’s conduct.

To avert any untoward incident, the police raided the outhouse and picked up 19 people present there despite facing resistance from them. However, Mr Qureshi managed to escape.

Those taken in custody were later booked under section 16 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), and sections 109, 148, 149, 186, 353 and 506-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

As the news of arrests spread, dozens of protesters gathered outside the Ghulam Mohammadabad police station on Saturday night and pelted its building with stones, forcing the police to use teargas to keep the mob away.

In his complaint Sub-Inspector Manzoor Ahmed, stated the protesters led by Ghulam Haider, Fida, Ghazanfar, Safdar, Mohsin, Asad, Ahsan, Shahzad and Abid turned up outside the police station carrying weapons, clubs and bricks, raising slogans against police and the government.

He said the suspects hurled threats at policemen and incited the mob to break the gates of the police station, kill the officials and get those taken in custody released.

The suspects also pelted the police station with stones and blocked the road in front of it for traffic, he added.

The police used teargas to disperse the agitators.

A case was later registered against more than 60 protesters under section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act (ATA), 16-MPO, and sections 148, 149, 186, 290, 291, 341, 353, 440 and 506-B of the PPC.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2018