Police in Pakistani capital Islamabad erected barbed wires and launched a baton charge to stop women from taking out the Aurat March on the International women’s Day (IWD).

Social media videos show the protesting women and the police having verbal confrontation as the women began shouting slogans against the Islamabad Police outside the Islamabad Press Club.

The women had faced legal hurdles as well as hostility from radical parties ove hosting the march. The Amun Taraqqi Party (ATP) had petitioned the court in Islamabad to not allow the Aurat March to take place as it violated the “injunctions of Islam and the Islamic way of life”.

In Lahore too, one of Pakistan’s main cities, women’s organisations were initially refused permission by the authorities after which the women went to the court. A minister’s intervention facilitated permission for the women to hold the event.

At a press conference the women had made public their list of demands which included end to patriarchal violence, increased representation of women at all levels of decision-making related to climate change and increased allocations for health and education. One of the most radical demands was seeking a reduction in the defence budget.

Slamming the high-handedness of the police the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) tweeted, “HRCP deplores the use of force by the Islamabad police against citizens at the Aurat Azadi March. We are also concerned by reports that religious organizations have tried to hinder women from taking part in the march. Women have as much right to peaceful assembly as any citizen.”

“The police are supposed to provide security to the marchers, not to resort to violence against peaceful demonstrators,” the commission said.

Also read: Pakistani women to go ahead with Aurat March braving death threats from radicals