Hundreds of activists of an extremist religious group on Monday laid partial siege to the national capital to denounce the publication of blasphemous cartoons in a French magazine and force the government to expel the French ambassador.
Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) of firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi organised the protest march on the Murree Road of the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Sunday.
Riot police had to resort to teargas shelling against the stone-pelting TLP protesters who succeeded to reach the Faizabad interchange connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad, where they launched their sit-in.
Though Rizvi did not join them at the sit-in but his representatives were leading the protestors who refused to move away until the basic demand to send back the French envoy was fulfilled.