200 arrested in Pakistan for violent protest against anti-Islam film

Islamabad: Pakistani Police have arrested 200 people on charges of involvement in violent protests against an anti-Islam film even on Saturday. Fresh protests were also held on Saturday in Islamabad and Lahore.
Islamabad Police chief Bin Yamin Khan said 62 people were arrested in connection with yesterday’s protests, when thousands of people attempted to march towards the diplomatic enclave.

He said about 60,000 had participated in the protests.

As life limped back to normal in cities and towns that were rocked by violence, unnamed economic analysts were quoted by The Express Tribune as saying that the shutdown due to the holiday declared by the government yesterday could have cost Pakistan an estimated Rs 76 billion.

The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated that the shutdown of industrial zones in Pakistan’s financial hub alone cost the economy almost Rs14 billion.

Rampaging mobs torched or vandalised five cinema halls in Karachi, three cinema halls and the chamber of commerce in Peshawar and countless banks and shops, and looted goods and cash from commercial establishments and ATMs.

Infrastructure, including traffic lights and road signs, were destroyed in many cities and civic utilities facing a severe financial crunch began repairs on Saturday, officials said.

In Islamabad, looters and robbers joined protestors and looted cash from a toll plaza, stole cars and robbed homes, police chief Bin Yamin Khan told reporters.

Hundreds of people, including women, joined another rally organised on Saturday by the Minhaj-ul-Quran.

The protestors travelled in cars and buses from Rawalpindi to Islamabad and dispersed peacefully after holding a meeting near parliament.

Some 500 members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah joined a protest outside the US Consulate in Lahore and shouted slogans against the US and in support of jihad.