Violent protests, on Monday, broke out across Pakistan against US-led strikes on Afghanistan with thousands of hardline demonstrators fighting pitched battle with security forces and police, setting on fire several buildings, including cinema halls, and vehicles. The worst hit was western city of Quetta, bordering Afghanistan, where an estimated 10,000 frenzied Taliban sympathisers went on rampage taking over a UNICEF office and partly destroying it by setting it on fire.
Army was deployed to quell the violence even as police fired tear gas as well as live shells into the air to disperse angry demonstrators who also torched five cinema halls, damaged a bank and burnt a police station. The anti-American protests at one time took on anti-foreigner hue as enraged crowd marched towards Quetta's luxury Serana hotel, where hundreds of foreign journalists are camping. Makeshift barbed-wire fencing was erected across the entry points to the hotel and police warned the scribes from coming out.
One person was reportedly killed and over 20 injured during the violence which erupted as President Pervez Musharraf told a press conference that his decision to support US-led coalition reflected the will of the people.
Besides Quetta, large demonstrations were held in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore. Pro-Taliban agitators were apparently emboldened by hardline Islamic outfits' call to extend full support to their Afghan brethren.
Bureau Report