Pak’s Punjab shuts schools to contain protests over rape

Police fire tear gas to disperse protesting students. Pic/AFP

Authorities in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province shut all schools and universities for two days on Friday in to contain the spread of protests by students over an alleged on-campus rape.

The closures in Pakistan's most populous province affect an estimated 18 million students. Tensions have been high on college campuses since reports of the alleged rape in the eastern city of Lahore spread on social media, and protests have broken out in four cities. In Gujrat in Punjab province, a security guard died in clashes between student protesters and police on Wednesday. Police arrested a person in connection with the death.

The government and police have denied that any rape occurred on a campus of the private Punjab Group of Colleges in Lahore.

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