Islamabad police detain 5 for vandalising fast food chain outlet in sector E-11

The Islamabad police on Tuesday said they had detained five people who were involved in vandalising a restaurant in the capital’s E-11 sector.

The incident is another in a string of multiple recent attacks on outlets of international fast-food chains across the country, particularly Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), as a form of protest and boycott against Israeli atrocities in Gaza and the companies supporting it.

KFC notably is not included in the boycott list of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The BDS movement is inherently a non-violent movement that calls for the boycott of corporations “complicit in the oppression of Palestinians”.

According to a statement issued by the Islamabad police today, the police detained five people after they vandalised the restaurant in sector E-11. Footage on social media showed it was a KFC outlet that the protesters entered and forced the staff to shut down.

The police statement said that around 15 people gathered outside the restaurant and subsequently vandalised it.

The statement said that no one was harmed due to the police’s prompt response.

A day ago, the Rawalpindi police said that vandals involved in an attack on a KFC outlet in the city’s Saddar area had been traced through closed-circuit television cameras.

A first information report of the incident was lodged at the Cantt police station by the manager of the KFC Saddar branch under sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 506(ii) (criminal intimidation if threat be to cause death or grievous hurt, etc) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

A statement from the Rawalpindi police said the suspects had been identified and would be arrested as well as brought to justice soon.

It said that police personnel had been deployed at the branches of international food chains.

“Lawbreaking, rioting and misbehaviour towards citizens will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The message is clear that those who violate the law and create a riot will be tackled with an iron hand,” the statement warned.