Pakistan province closes schools, universities amid student protests | News of the demonstrations

Authorities in Punjab are also banning gatherings as hundreds of people are arrested while protesting reports of a rape on a university campus.

Authorities in Pakistan’s most populous province have ordered the closure of all educational institutions as student-led protests intensify after allegations of rape on a university campus.

The interior department of Punjab province also banned gatherings on Friday and Saturday.

The closure is expected to affect around 26 million children in addition to adult learners in the Eastern Province.

Rawalpindi police officer Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani told the AFP news agency on Friday that 380 people had been arrested for vandalism and arson during protests in the city the day before and that investigations were ongoing.

“We’re going to find people on social media,” he said.

Protests erupted last week in Lahore, the provincial capital, after reports surfaced on social media that a student was raped in the basement of the Punjab College for Women campus over the weekend.

Police arrested a security guard who was identified in online posts, but said no victims had come forward and they had been unable to verify the rape allegation.

Protests have since spread to campuses in Lahore as well as the city of Rawalpindi, neighboring the national capital Islamabad, with students accusing authorities of a cover-up.

Hundreds of students were arrested in various cities for blocking roads, injuring security personnel and vandalizing.

The protests reflect Pakistani students’ deep concern about safety, harassment and sexual assault against women at universities, and distrust of authorities.

Authorities said an investigative team formed to look into the allegations found no evidence of rape and cast doubt on the motives of the protests.

“The incident does not exist,” Arif Chaudry, director in Lahore of the private Punjab Colleges Group which runs the women’s college, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“I will resign and leave this profession and stand with the students if this incident takes place.”

Provincial Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said those spreading false messages would be punished.

The Progressive Student Collective, one of the groups calling for protests, demanded the formation of a committee including independent human rights organizations, student representatives and judges.