"The police fired when the people starting moving towards the nuclear plants," a private television reported. An official at the city's main police control room confirmed the incident saying two protesters were killed and seven injured when police fired at them in "self-defence."
AFP adds: More than 30 people were wounded Monday when police opened fire to disperse thousands furiously protesting against crippling power outages in Mianwali, officials said. A crowd of about 8,000 people took to the streets in Mianwali city and some later attacked government buildings, shops and pelted police with stones, Mohammad Waqas Nazir, city police chief, told AFP.
Police charged the crowd with batons and lobbed tear gas shells to quell a mob who had smashed billboards and attacked vehicles, he said. "Police opened fire after they failed to quell the mob heading towards the main Chashma power plant," the official said.
"They were violent, pelting police with stones. Their number kept on increasing," Nazir said, adding that the protesters were trying to besiege the plant near the city, demanding an end to load-shedding. At least 32 people were wounded, including 20 police officials. China has built a 300-megawatt nuclear power plant at Chashma. Pakistan opened Chashma-2 last month with a capacity of producing 330 megawatts of electricity.