Pakistan: police taken hostage by anti-France protesters
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard on a road during a demonstration by TLP supporters in Lahore, Pakistan on April 18, 2021. REUTERS - STRINGER
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At least seven Pakistani police officers were taken hostage on Sunday (April 18) in Lahore by anti-France protesters belonging to a radical Islamist party, a police spokesman said.
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"
Members of TLP,
" the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, "are
holding five policemen and two members of the Ranger Corps hostage
," said Rana Arif, police spokesperson in Lahore.
In a tweet, Firdous Ashiq Awan, spokesperson for the government of Punjab province, said up to twelve police officers may have been kidnapped and taken to the TLP mosque in Lahore, where hundreds of anti-protesters are gathered. France.
► To read also: Pakistan: for the Prime Minister, insulting Muhammad must be punished like denying the Shoah
TLP members reportedly killed
They have been protesting since Monday against the imprisonment of their leader, who was arrested for asking for the expulsion of the French ambassador. Anti-France protests took place in several cities across the country, leading to the deaths of six police officers and leading the French embassy to call on its nationals to temporarily leave the country.
According to Firdous Ashiq Awan, “
violent groups armed with Molotov cocktails and bottles of acid invaded the Nawankot police station this morning
”.
Officials of the TLP, an officially banned party, said several members of their movement were killed on Sunday.
"
We will not bury them until the French ambassador is deported,
" Allama Muhammad Shafiq Amini, a TLP leader in Lahore, said in a video posted online.
The TLP has embarked on a campaign against France since President Emmanuel Macron defended
Charlie Hebdo's right
to publish the Muhammad cartoons, an act they deem blasphemous.
(With
AFP
)
►
To read also: Anti-French demonstrations: "Pakistan does not want to appear as a country which shelters extremist parties"
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