LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: At least three people were killed and several others, including police, injured on Sunday as police launched an operation to clear the Chowk Yateem Khana neighbourhood in Lahore where activists and supporters of the now-proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have been staging a sit-in since Monday.
Clashes erupted in Lahore between police and workers of TLP late on Monday when police arrested its chief Saad Rizvi after he threatened the government with protests if it did not expel the French ambassador over blasphemous depictions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Security forces swinging batons and firing teargas moved before dawn to clear sit-ins in Lahore.
In a video message, a spokesperson for the group, Shafiq Ameeni, claimed that “forces suddenly attacked [us] at Lahore Markaz at 8:00 am today morning in which a large number of our workers have been martyred while many are injured”.
“[We] will bury [those killed] when the French ambassador exits the country and our agreement [with the government] is implemented,” he added.
The group wants the government to boycott French products and expel the French ambassador under an “agreement” signed with it by the government in February.
Police also confirmed that an operation was underway at Chowk Yateem Khana but did not give any further details.
The TLP also shared a video of a Punjab police official, who was purportedly abducted by its workers on Sunday. The injured official, seemingly under duress, said that an operation was being carried out to clear the area outside a police station when he was “captured” by the “enraged” crowd.