Pakistani police detained more than 200 supporters of an opposition opposition alliance today, firing tear gas and beating protesters with sticks to prevent a rally in the violence-prone port city of Karachi.
Small groups of rock-throwing supporters of the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance clashed with police for several hours in a key business district of Pakistan's commercial hub.
Police fired tear gas and beat protesters with sticks, effectively blocking an MMA "peace rally" called to mobilise support against violence in Karachi, where at least 70 people have been killed in a spate of bombings on military and religious targets since May.
Authorities had said they would not permit the rally, fearing more trouble.
But the MMA, which includes hardline pro-Taliban Islamic groups, claimed several hundred of its supporters were arrested in the crackdown which started in the early hours today.
Hundreds of policemen in riot gear were on alert at the main southern district where the rally was planned. Hundreds more guarded government installations and buildings. Many roads were blocked with trucks and traffic was directed to other routes.
"All night there were raids at the houses of our supporters," said Senator Ghafoor Ahmad, a senior MMA leader. "Our intentions were good. We just wanted to walk for peace but the government is not tolerating any opposition. It is not democracy."
Fazal-ur-Rehman, a pro-Taliban MMA leader who has led anti-US rallies during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, flew into Karachi yesterday in defiance of the ban. The authorities sent him back to the capital, Islamabad. On Sunday, another leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, was not allowed to enter Karachi.
Karachi has a history of sectarian, political and ethnic violence that has claimed thousands of lives in over a decade.
The sprawling city of about 14 million people has seen a new wave of attacks, mainly against Western targets and religious minorities, since Pakistan joined the US-led war on terror.
Police blame most of the recent terror attacks on the al-Qaeda network and its local supporters.