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Riot-Like Situation in Pakistan’s Sindh After People Gather to Offer Friday Prayers Amid Lockdown

New Delhi (Sputnik): With 2,458 positive COVID-19 cases and 37 deaths due to the virus, the government in Pakistan has enforced a lockdown to prevent Friday prayer gatherings.
Sputnik

A riot-like situation occurred in Karachi on Friday when police tried to disperse a religious gathering. The incident took place near the Ghausia Mosque when people started pelting police with stones.

​Karachi is the capital of Pakistan’s Sindh province, which is the worst-hit with 783 COVID-19 cases.

In a video, people can be seen running after a police vehicle after they were stopped from performing Friday prayers.

​After authorities failed to prevent large gatherings last week, police on Friday enforced a strict lockdown across Pakistan to restrict Friday prayer congregations in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Pakistan has been struggling to control the spread of COVID-19 as staunch Muslim clerics have been asking people to come for prayers.

Even though Muslims-majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Turkey, Syria and others have suspended collective prayers to contain the spread of COVID-19, the religious heads in Pakistan are saying that they should gather in large numbers to pray to God to protect them from the fatal disease.

Pakistan has resisted a complete lockdown and the country has seen a spike in cases with 2,458 and 37 deaths.

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