(Lahore) A Pakistani radical Islamist party behind a violent anti-French campaign announced on Saturday the death of five of its supporters in clashes with police in Lahore, in the east of the country, after the death of two police in these troubles.
On Friday, more than 1,000 Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) members gathered after prayers to demand the release of their detained leader, blocking roads and firing projectiles. The protests continued on Saturday.
The TLP, officially banned by the government which classified it as a “terrorist” organization, was at the origin of major demonstrations against France which, at the beginning of the year, led the embassy to call all its nationals to leave the country.
“Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan lost two people on Friday evening and three more today due to police fire,” the party tweeted on Saturday.
PHOTO KM CHAUDARY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lahore police declined to comment on the announcement, but said on Friday evening that two of their officers were dead.
“The clashes are still ongoing,” Rana Arif, a spokesperson for the Lahore police, told AFP. “This is a defensive operation by the police against the crowd.”
PHOTO KM CHAUDARY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
TLP leader Saad Rizvi was arrested in April when the government banned the party. His supporters threatened to march in a convoy to the capital Islamabad, where police blocked the roads using containers.
The party said it would continue to demonstrate and refuse any discussion with the government until its leader was released.
Home Secretary Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, who was in Dubai for the T20 Cricket World Cup, has returned to Pakistan on instructions from Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The TLP launched a campaign against France last year after President Emmanuel Macron defended the right to cartoon in the name of freedom of expression. Mr. Macron had expressed this position during a tribute paid to a teacher killed on October 16, 2020 after showing satirical drawings to his class, in the wake of the republication of the cartoons of the prophet of Islam by the weekly Charlie Weekly.
Six police officers were killed in April during demonstrations organized by the TLP.