Pakistan: Police baton-charge, arrest protesting school teachers in Peshawar

Protesting the police’s action, the Primary School Teachers’ Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, announced the closure of all government primary schools in the province from today (Friday), reports Dawn News.

The teachers closed around 15,000 government primary schools for boys across the province on the day to join the Peshawar rally on the call of their association.

Thousands of teachers showed up outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and blocked the Khyber Road to traffic causing snarl-ups on the city’s major arteries.

The police baton-charged protesters and fired tear gas on them to ensure that they were dispersed.

Several teachers were reportedly injured in the incident.

They were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment.

The police also arrested dozens of teachers. They, however, didn’t register FIRs against them until night, reports Dawn News.

The police told the newspaper that the injured officials, including SSP (operation) Kashif Aftab Abbasi, were shifted to the hospital for medical aid.

“We also took dozens of protesting teachers into custody.We will take further action against them after checking their particulars,” the police said in the statement.

President of the All Primary Schools Teachers Association Azizullah Khan told Dawn that following the police action, the teachers would continue with the protest until their demands were met.

He claimed that the police fired all tear gas shells on ‘peaceful’ teachers.

“From tomorrow, all government primary schools will be closed,” he said.