260 arrested in Pakistan at protest over suicide attack
Protesters across cities in Balochistan demand accountability over a September 2 bombing at a political rally that killed 15 people
Police arrested 260 people and deployed tear gas in Pakistan’s poorest province during a strike on Monday, as protesters demanded accountability over a suicide attack claimed by Islamic State (Isis).
Businesses shut and demonstrators took to the streets across more than a dozen cities in Balochistan in response to a September 2 bombing at a political rally that killed 15 people.
In the provincial capital Quetta, police arrested protesters blocking a road and fired tear gas to disperse them.
“The government has already warned the protesters that although they have their democratic right to protest peacefully, they have no right to force people to be off the roads or disrupt the vehicle traffic and force the people to close their businesses,” said senior police superintendent Muhammad Baloch.
By evening, Baloch said police had arrested 260 people.
Balochistan, a turbulent province on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, is regularly the scene of violence, often carried out by jihadists from the regional branch of the Isis group, Isis-Khorasan, as well as by Isis-Pakistan or Baloch separatists.
Ahead of the strike, the Balochistan National Party (BNP) urged the public to unify across political, tribal and class lines to demand those behind the attack to be exposed.