Clashes erupt between Qadri's supporters and Police in Pakistani capital
Police in Islamabad have fired warning shots in the air and used tear gas against anti-corruption protesters on a march led by cleric Tahirul Qadri.The clashes erupted after demonstrators threw stones at security forces outside parliament.
Congratulating the huge gathering of tens of thousands over completing the long march peacefully, Qadri said “The march has ended and now the revolution will begin.”
"We will not accept Qadri's pressure because his demands are unconstitutional," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local television channels shortly after security forces fired in the air and used tear gas to try and control protesters backing the cleric. The rally began on Monday and many of the protesters had stayed on the streets overnight.
Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s 11 am deadline given to the government, for its voluntary resignation and dissolution of all assemblies, expired on Tuesday as the long march participants awaited his address at D-Chowk on Islamabad’s Jinnah Avenue in front of the Parliament House.
A heavy contingent of policemen arrived at the site and restricted the marchers from proceeding ahead of D-Chowk aka Express Chowk.
Footage on television showed policemen in riot gear firing in the air and using batons to push back dozens of supporters of Qadri, who lobbed stones at them.Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the media that security forces fired in the air after Qadri's supporters pelted them with stones.
Qadri's spokesman Shahid Mursaleen claimed in an email statement that trouble erupted after police tried to arrest the cleric. "Once they realised that the crowd is not letting them come near him, they (police) opened fire in the air which lasted for 10 minutes," he claimed.
Mursaleen further claimed police fired at Qadri's car and tried to smash its windows. "The crowd ran after the police with sticks when they realised the police (was trying) to attack their leader. The police ran away," he said.
His claims could not be independently confirmed. The spokesman said Qadri, who was in a portable shelter, was safe. Qadri, who heads the Tehrik Minhaj-ul-Quran, marched into Jinnah Avenue in the heart of Islamabad with tens of thousands of supporters and gave the government hours to quit and to dissolve the national and provincial assemblies. He declaredthat he was leading a "people's democratic revolution".
The cleric's party had signed an agreement with the Islamabad administration to hold a peaceful protest a few kilometres from the National Assembly, but the cleric surprised authorities by inciting his followers to remove barricades and move towards a square near parliament.
Pakistan's political circles have been surprised by the sudden re-emergence of Qadri, a Canadian national who has lived outside the country for the past seven years.
A fringe player in Pakistani politics who was involved in several controversies in the past, Qadri returned from abroad last month after his party ran a multi-million rupee advertisement campaign in newspapers and on television.
Qadri subsequently addressed a large gathering at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on December 24 and gave the government time till January 10 to carry out electoral reforms.
At the time, he had warned he would march to Islamabad with his followers on January 14 and stage a sit-in till his demands were met.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party, main opposition PML-N and other major parties have accused Qadri of acting a front for the security establishment and foreign elements to delay the general election scheduled to be held by May so that that
the term of an interim administration can be prolonged.
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