Student mob, police clash

Press, 4 December 1979, Page 8

Student mob, police clash

NZPA-Reuter Rawalpindi! Pakistani students de-! manding compensation for the family of a student killed in the attack on the United States Embassy in Islamabad last month clashed with the police in Rawalpindi at the week-end. Fifty students were arrested during the fighting between students from Rawalpindi’s Gordon College and policemen armed with batons and tear gas, and an! unknown number of students! were injured, a student! spokesman said.

As universities reopened! after the sacking of the em-l bassy 11 days ago. about! 1000 students tried to march from the college to the) grave of Mohammad Asif,! aged 18, one of six people! killed during the attack on| the embassy by demonstra-j tors.

The student-led mob burned the embassy to the ground in a display of support for the Iranian Government and in protest against what the Iranian revolutionary leader. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny alleged was American involvement in an attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. About 50 Americans were trapped in the Embassy for several hours before Pakistani troops arrived. Some 400 American civilians, non-

essential aid officials, and dependants were evacuated from Pakistan soon after. Sixty-five American diplomats have stayed in the country and are working in the heavily guarded States aid building in central Islamabad.

An embassy spokesman said that about 100 people had been arrested in connection with the embassy attack.

In the demonstration, the students called for compensation from both the Pakistani and United States Governments for the family of their dead colleague, and demanded that the United Slates Ambassador (Mr Aithur Hummel) be charged with murder.

A cordon of policemen stopped the students from going from the college to a graveyard about Ikm away, and lorries filled with policemen stood by in nearby side streets in case the trouble spread.

The students threw stones at the police, who dispersed the crowd with tear gas and baton charges. Elsewhere in the country the situation was normal, and there were no incidents at Islamabad's Quaid Azam University, the main rallying point for the march on the United States Embassy last month.