The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) began marching towards Islamabad after Friday prayers, with a large number of supporters reaching Shahdara and staging a sit-in after clashes with police, partially paralysing the provincial capital.
The law enforcers repeatedly tried to contain the procession near the group’s headquarters by erecting barricades and containers and using tear gas and other crowd-control measures.
In the Gujrat district, local authorities on Friday night dug up trenches at least three locations along the G.T. Road to block the march headed towards Islamabad.
However, the TLP, led by its chief Saad Rizvi, not only managed to take out the main procession in Lahore as part of its “Gaza March” but also kept on moving ahead amid religious slogans, rendering the police helpless.
Reports suggest that protests turned violent following Friday sermons delivered by prominent religious figures of the organisation at local mosques before the march began to move towards Islamabad from Lahore’s Multan Road.
Video circulating on social media appeared to show protesters commandeering heavy vehicles, including cranes reportedly belonging to government departments such as the Lahore Waste Management Company, Rescue 1122 and the Punjab police, to use them in the procession.
Scuffles reportedly broke out soon after TLP chief Saad Rizvi delivered a major sermon at the main Friday congregation at the central mosque near the organisation’s headquarters on Multan Road.
