Lahore, Apr 15 (PTI) Seventeen activists of a radical Islamist party have been arrested for attacking a restaurant of an American fast-food chain in Lahore city of Pakistan’s Punjab province during an anti-Israel protest, the police said on Tuesday.

Last week, the KFC restaurant in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was surrounded by a good number of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers who pelted stones, shattered window panes, and set some parts on fire.

Video clips of the attack on the KFC restaurant also went viral on social media.

According to some eyewitnesses, most of the attackers carrying clubs entered the KFC and shattered the glass doors and window panes.

The staff and customers ran to save their lives. The protesters were making anti-Israel and anti-America slogans, the witnesses said.

The protesters said they would not allow any product/outlet of these countries in Pakistan.

“We have arrested some 17 suspects belonging to TLP in an attack on KFC Lahore,” a Punjab police spokesperson told PTI.

He said the suspects have been tracked down with the help of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) cameras, human intelligence and the geo-fencing of the area.

Police have beefed up the security in and around the international food chain outlets in Lahore and other parts of the province.

Earlier, an outlet of KFC and another food chain came under attack in Karachi allegedly by the members of TLP, which is spearheading a campaign to boycott Israeli products for its attack on Gaza. PTI MZ PY PY