Covid: Pakistan anti-France protests disrupt oxygen supplies for patients

Lahore, Pakistan - Pakistan is in the grip of a deadly third wave of the coronavirus with a shortage of vaccines.

Thousands of supporters of a Pakistan Islamist party who blocked major roads to protest the arrest of their leader also disrupted critical oxygen supplies for Covid-19 patients, health officials said Tuesday.

Major intersections remained closed in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-biggest city, after the arrest on Monday of Saad Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

Yasmin Rashid, a leading health official in Punjab, said the disruption of oxygen supplies during protests Monday night had been a “crisis”.

“Please do not block roads for ambulances and for visitors to the hospitals. Some ambulances are carrying oxygen cylinders, which are extremely essential for Covid patients,” Rashid said.

Punjab pandemic pointman Asad Aslam said several hospitals had faced oxygen shortages on Monday night, but the situation had stabilised after roads were cleared by authorities.

Pakistan is in the grip of a deadly third wave of the coronavirus with a shortage of vaccines.

The TLP are notorious for days-long road protests which have brought large swathes of Pakistan to a standstill over the years.

A party official told AFP that two of their supporters were killed during clashes with security forces on Monday night when police used tear gas and water cannon to break up crowds.