5 killed as police clear TLP’s anti-Israel protest site

Punjab police said on Monday they launched a clearance operation against the Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party after failed negotiations to call off an anti-Israel protest, with five killed in the violence, including one policeman.

- 

The TLP began its protests in Lahore on Thursday and planned to march to the US embassy in Islamabad, leading authorities to block roads between the two cities and shut down the internet.

After negotiations between TLP and the government collapsed on Sunday, authorities launched a “dispersal operation” in Muridke, a town north of Lahore, where more than 7,000 supporters had reached in their march to the capital.

Police said workers of TLP “resorted to stone pelting, spiked batons, and petrol bombs” and opened “indiscriminate fire, resulting in casualties among civilians and law enforcement personnel.”