RAWALPINDI: Police have arrested more than 380 participants of student protesters in Rawalpindi and booked more than 1,500 unidentified persons in eight cases, it emerged on Friday.
A large number of Rawalpindi students on Thursday staged demonstration against the alleged rape of a college-going girl in Lahore.
Police said the protesters infringed Section 144, interfered in the state affairs, damaged and torched properties, hurled stones at police mobile vans. As per the FIRs, the demonstrators injured police officials and spread terror, as the students ransacked a hostel after forcefully entering the hostel premises, pelted stones and damaged the vehicles there.
The police resorted to teargas shelling to disperse the students and evacuated the teachers and staff who were initially besieged in the building.
The cases have been lodged, police said, at various police stations including Airport, Gujjar Khan, Sad-dar (Wah), Morgah and Naseerabad.
Meanwhile, as a measure to control the crowd, the road leading to Faizabad from Murree road has been partially closed by placing containers on them.
The demonstrations come amid the ongoing unrest across the province over rape allegations which went viral on social media platforms prompting students to hold multiple demonstrations across vari-ous cities in recent days.
More than two dozen people, including four policemen, were injured in violent protests in Lahore on Tuesday.
The turmoil eventually warranted a strong response from Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz who, while speaking to the media on Wednesday, announced a crackdown on those spreading fake news regarding the rape of a student.
Meanwhile, authorities in Punjab ordered all educational institutes shut for Friday. The closure will af-fect about 26 million children in addition to adult learners in the province.
The police and provincial government have said that no victim has come forward and have blamed mis-information online.
In addition to closure of the institutes, the provincial interior department has also banned gatherings on Friday and Saturday. –Agencies
