Pakistan police fires tear gas at protesters as anger spreads over alleged on-campus rape

Pakistani constabulary fired teardrop state and charged astatine pupil protesters who ransacked a assemblage gathering Thursday, arsenic choler dispersed implicit an alleged on-campus rape.

Tensions person been precocious connected assemblage campuses since reports astir the alleged rape successful the eastbound metropolis of Lahore went viral connected societal media, and protests person breached retired successful 4 cities truthful far.

The latest unit started erstwhile hundreds of students demonstrated extracurricular a field successful the metropolis of Rawalpindi successful Punjab province. They burned furnishings and blocked a cardinal roadworthy successful the city, disrupting traffic, earlier ransacking a assemblage building. Police responded by swinging batons and firing teardrop state to disperse them, constabulary authoritative Mohammad Afzal said. In a statement, constabulary said they arrested 150 students connected charges of disrupting the peace.

In Gujrat, besides successful Punjab province, a information defender died successful clashes betwixt pupil protesters and constabulary connected Wednesday. The constabulary person arrested idiosyncratic successful transportation with the death.

They besides arrested a antheral who is accused of spreading misinformation connected societal media astir the alleged rape and inciting students to violence.

Earlier this week, much than 2 twelve assemblage students were injured successful clashes with constabulary successful Lahore aft they rallied to request justness for the victim, who they alleged was raped connected field astatine the Punjab Group of Colleges.

Authorities, including the province's main curate and the assemblage administration, denied determination was an assault, arsenic did the young woman’s parents.

Sexual unit against women is communal successful Pakistan, but it is underreported due to the fact that of the stigma attached to it successful the blimpish country. Protests astir intersexual unit against women are uncommon.

Hasna Cheema, from the rights radical Aurat Foundation, said neither Pakistani constabulary nor the media were trained to grip specified delicate matters.

“They crook things from atrocious to worse alternatively of solving them,” Cheema said.

The Sustainable Social Development Organization said past period that determination were 7,010 rape cases reported successful Pakistan successful 2023, astir 95% of them successful Punjab.

“However, owed to societal stigmas successful Pakistan that discourage women from getting help, determination is simply a precocious accidental that owed to underreporting the existent fig of cases whitethorn beryllium adjacent higher,” it said.

This week’s protests travel little than a period aft a pistillate said she was gang-raped portion connected work during a polio vaccination thrust successful confederate Sindh province.

Police arrested 3 men. Her hubby threw her retired of the location aft the reported assault, saying she had tarnished the household name.