Country-wide protest demos, rallies against load shedding

LAHORE: While the country-wide demonstrations, rallies, road-blocking and ransacking continued on second day on Monday to protest against worst kind of load shedding of electricity, the PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has asked his party workers to take active part in the protest.

The protest against load shedding was reported from a number of cities and towns.The severe protest took place in Gujranwala where the hundreds of enraged citizens attacked the office complex of Gujranwala Electric Supply Company and set three cars and 12 motorcycles on fire.

They also burnt a WAPDA vehicle and smashed the windowpanes of nearby bank. The protesters pelted stones on Jaffar Express and Tezgam Express besides blocking the motorway due to which the buses, cars and other vehicles in a large number stuck up on both sides.

The protesters also clashed with police who resorted to tear gas shelling for dispersing them. The motorway was also blocked in Bhera where hundreds of protesters staged demonstration and pelted stones to vent their anger against load shedding.

The people also took to the streets in Gujrat Toba Tek Singh, Okara, Pind Dadan Khan, Borewala, Gujrat, Sahiwal, Pak Pattan, Shaikhupura, Jhang and towns of Punjab. In Toba Tek Singh the shops and looms were also shut.

The GT Road was blocked by demonstrators in Gujrat while the lawyers observed strike in Pind Dadan Khan.

In Jhang and surrounding towns the demonstrators burnt the effigies of WAPDA officials and chanted slogans against government. Rallies and demonstrations were also held in Lahore where the citizens had burnt LESCO office and some vehicles on Sunday.

The angry mob also blocked the Karakoram highway in Abbotabad and demonstration was held in Gul Bela area of Peshawar. The demonstrations were also staged in a number of localities in Karachi and different towns of interior Sindh.

Copyright PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2011