At least three police officers are said to have been hurt in conflicts with enraged TLP supporters who reportedly attacked law enforcement with iron rods and stones. Multan Road became a battlefield as a result of the police’s tear gas shelling response.
TLP activists were seen running as police fired tear gas in social media videos that Dawn was unable to verify immediately.
TLP activists were seen holding up tear gas shells and spent bullet casings in other clips. The TLP announced plans for a massive anti-Israel demonstration outside the US embassy in the federal capital on Friday, prompting the crackdown on the organization’s central office. The Islamabad administration has also begun placing shipping containers at Faizabad Interchange, the historic site of several TLP sit-ins, in preparation for the protest. TLP condemned raids on the homes of their supporters in a statement released in the early hours of Thursday, claiming that several of their employees had been arrested. According to police sources, the group had summoned a large number of supporters to Lahore and placed them in temporary shelters. These elements attacked police parties as they moved in to raid the TLP main office.
Armed with stones, clubs, and iron rods, the enraged TLP men managed to push the police back. At the time this article went to press, fighting was ongoing.
