People rough policemen up in Karachi

Police said that two of its personnel were beaten by some angry people in Liaqatabad when the law-enforcers tried to stop them from going to a mosque to offer Friday prayers in congregation.
Police had been enforcing a three-hour "curfew like" lockdown from 12 noon to 3:00pm announced by the Sindh government to prevent people from going to mosques to offer Friday prayers in congregation owing to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Police alleged that a local mosque's Imam led the Friday prayers despite the three-hour complete lockdown in place across the city. Upon seeing violation of the lockdown, police officials intervened in a bid to stop the prayers, but they were allegedly attacked by the people.
"People were instigated by the Imam when police asked them to stop the congregational prayers," police said. Two policemen had to seek refuge at a house in the neighbourhood after they were assaulted by unidentified people.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah had formally announced the lockdown. He said that stopping people from congregational prayers was a painful act, but it was an unavoidable measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A Sindh government notification issued a day earlier only allowed three to five people to offer congregational prayers in the mosques. Apart from the only incident, the lockdown was largely implemented in Karachi. People preferred to stay at home, and only a small number of people were seen going to mosques during prayer time.