Police on Thursday fired shells and baton charged thousands of protesters outside the Peshawar Press Club for raising their voice against the killing of 18 people, allegedly by security forces.

On Wednesday, students and tribal people had demonstrated against the killing of their relatives. They had placed the bodies in front of the Governor’s House and staged a sit-in but the police dispersed them by resorting to baton charge. Later, the police had seized the bodies and also arrested several tribal elders. On Thursday, the protesting students, led by Khyber Agency Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shah Faisal Afridi, Haroon Luqman, Musharraf Afridi, Sajjad Afridi held the sit-in against the government. The angry students also blocked Saddar Road for several hours.

A police contingent rushed to the spot and threw tear gas shells and also baton charged the protestors. The enraged students also started hurling bricks and stones at the police and took refuge in the under-construction building of Rescue-1122.

The political administration of Bara and Governor’s House called on the protestors to end up the sit-in as the government will be investigating the killing. The government also said it would provide Rs 700,000 to each aggrieved family, adding that Rs 400,000 would be paid immediately. However, the protesters had refused to end up their sit-in until the withdrawal of the army and lifting of year-long curfew from the agency. After the refusal, police thrashed them, fired in the air and seized the bodies. The protesters demanded that the government announce a special compensation package to those injured and aggrieved families.

In the half-hour skirmish a cameraman of a private TV channel, Sadiq Bangash, was injured. He was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital. A number of police personnel were also injured.

In the meanwhile, police arrested more than 20 protesters. Rest of the protesters fled from the scene. According to the Khyber Agency political administration, a 27-member committee has been formed. The committee members, including tribal elders and socio-political figures, will be meeting on Friday (today) at the Governor’s House. The administration claimed that the protesters had called off the protest until the conclusion of the meeting.