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Tens of thousands of people in Pakistan defied a government ban on large gatherings on Saturday to attend the funeral of a hardline cleric in Lahore, according to Reuters.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi, 54, died of a heart attack on Thursday, just days after leading a violent protest march to the capital, Islamabad, against the publication in France of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
With coronavirus infections rising, the government this month declared the country was experiencing a “second wave” of contagion and banned large events and meetings.
Official data released on Saturday showed 2,843 people had tested positive for the virus and 42 had died in the last 24 hours – both figures the highest for a single day since July.
Despite the coronavirus curbs, tens of thousands turned out to mourn Rizvi, and organisers of the funeral said the government had not told them to limit the gathering.
Government officials did not respond to a request for comment about the funeral, which wreaked havoc in Lahore as mobile phone services were shut down and major roads blocked for security reasons.
A local official, who asked not to be named, said he estimated that close to 200,000 people had attended the event. The gathering was so large that Rizvi’s coffin could not be carried through the crowd to the site set up for the ceremony, and had to be positioned on a nearby bridge for the prayers, said Reuters.
Rizvi, known for his fiery sermons, headed the Tehreek-e Labbaik Pakistan party, which has pressured the government on a number of issues in recent years by denouncing alleged blasphemy and staging protests.
Earlier this month, the cleric led a march of thousands of protesters to Islamabad that blocked a main entry road for hours and saw demonstrators clash with police. (Writing and additional reporting by Gibran Peshimam. Editing by Helen Popper)
A mass coronavirus testing pilot scheme has been launched today in Wales. Lisa Mytton, the deputy leader of Merthyr Tydfil county borough council, said she believed the mass testing pilot was the best way to try to reduce the area’s high levels of coronavirus transmissions.
She told the PA news agency:
I just wonder what other way there would be to do it apart from this way?
I really am hopeful that it will get everybody out there so we can find and see those people who are asymptomatic, walking around unknowingly with coronavirus, so they can then self-isolate and we can reduce our transmission rate.
This will help in the end; people being able to see relatives, to get back to some sort of normality.
Obviously we didn’t want as many people having coronavirus in Merthyr Tydfil as the numbers have shown; that’s saddened us.
But I’m pleased we’ve been chosen to undertake this pilot because if it helps reduce the transmission rate in Merthyr Tydfil then that’s a good thing, definitely.