Punjab: Christians protest boy’s death, police charge protesters
News of the death spread among local Christians, who took to one of the village’s main streets. They blocked road and train traffic, demanding justice. The crowd shouted anti-government slogans, but remained peaceful.
However, when police moved in, tensions rose. Law enforcement used tear gas against the demonstrators, used truncheons to beat people up and fired warning shots in the air. Five people were injured, including two journalists.
Eyewitnesses told ANS that when police began shooting in the air, protesters became angry and started pelting vehicles and shops with stones and bricks.
“Some women fell unconscious from tear gas,” one eyewitness said. “Some police officers were also injured after being hit by the stones hurled by the mob.” The standoff lasted about three hours.
A high-ranking police official tried to reassure the local Christian community, saying, “Justice would be served”; Adil Masih’s killers “would be nailed down, prosecuted and penalised.”
In the meantime, elsewhere in the country, anti-Christian violence continues unabated. On Sunday, fire broke out in a girls’ hostel in Murree, a hill station in Punjab, under “mysterious circumstances”, the Pakistan Christian Post reported. About 100 Christian girls were staying at the facility when the incident occurred. Fortunately, no one was injured or killed.
The hostel is part of the St Deny’s Girls High School. It is the second time that a fire breaks out at the facility under suspicious circumstances. On 4 November 2009, the school, which is owned and run by the Catholic Diocese of Lahore, suffered significant damages. The cause of that blaze was never determined.
Areas where the influence of Islamic extremists is strongest, especially in the North West Frontier Province, women’s and girls’ educational facilities are coming increasingly under attack. Buildings are set on fire and students are attacked with acid.
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