Pakistani police stop NATO supply truck blockade

Supporters of the Pakistani religious party Jammat-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Insaf party, headed by cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan, hold up their parties’ flags and chant slogans during a rally against U.S. drone strikes in Pakistani areas, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013. AP

PESHAWAR, Pakistan —Pakistani police have intervened to prevent activists who were protesting United States drone strikes from halting North Atlantic Treaty Organization troop supply trucks traveling to and from Afghanistan.

Police officer Behram Khan said Monday the police would permit peaceful protests on the roadside but that the activists would not be allowed to stop trucks as they did the day before.

Khan is the local police chief in an area where members of Tehreek-e-Insaf, a party led by cricket star Imran Khan, were stopping trucks and roughing up drivers on Sunday on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The party said it will halt NATO supply trucks until drone strikes end.

Police were present at the scene Sunday but didn’t stop the protesters, some of whom were carrying wooden batons.

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