Pakistani police fire tear gas and charge protesters in Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police fired tear gas and swung batons at thousands of protesters on Sunday in Karachi after the demonstrators tried to break through a security barricade.

Around 2,000 supporters of a far-right Islamist party tried to reach the city’s press club to oppose a another demonstration staged by civil society groups about the killing of a blasphemy suspect while he was in custody.

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party hurled rocks at officers and torched a patrol car when police stopped them from reaching the press club.

The party said one of its members died in the violence. Police arrested around 20 people from both demonstrations.

Provincial Interior Minister Zia Ul Hassan said authorities feared clashes because both the political party and the civil society groups had issued calls for protests on the same day.

Ul Hassan condemned the violence, especially given an upcoming security summit in Islamabad and last week’s deadly attack on a convoy of Chinese nationals outside the city’s airport.

The TLP supports Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, which call for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.