#Title Pak police arrest dozens at protest over suicide attack

AFP, Quetta

Police arrested at least 60 people and fired tear gas in Pakistan’s poorest province during a strike yesterday, as protesters demanded accountability over a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State.

Businesses shut and demonstrators took to the streets across more than a dozen cities in Balochistan in response to a September 2 bombing at a political rally that killed 15 people.

In provincial capital Quetta, police arrested protesters blocking a road and fired tear gas to disperse them. “The government has already warned the protesters that although they have their democratic right to protest peaceful, they have no right to force people to be off the roads or disrupt the vehicle traffic and force the people to close their businesses,” a senior police official told AFP.

Balochistan, a turbulent province on the border with Iran and Afghanistan, is regularly the scene of violence, often carried out by jihadists from the regional branch of the Islamic State, IS-Khorasan, as well as by IS-Pakistan or Baloch separatists.

Ahead of the strike, the Balochistan National Party (BNP) urged the public to unify across political, tribal and class lines to demand those behind the attack to be exposed.

London’s Tube network shuts Workers begin week of strikes

REUTERS, London

London’s Tube network came to a standstill yesterday as its workers began a week of strikes over pay and working conditions, disrupting travel for commuters and tourists in the British capital.

Almost no London Underground trains are expected to run between yesterday and Thursday. Additionally, the Docklands Light Railway, which connects the financial centres of Canary Wharf and the City of London, will not run today and Thursday.

Londoners reported making longer journeys to get to work yesterday morning, with many choosing to cycle and others taking detours.

“The prospect of it being all week, it’s a bit of a nightmare... it’s probably taken me twice as long to get in this morning,” said legal counsel Laura Sutton, 46, who was near London Bridge station.