KARACHl: Police on Monday took into custody over two-dozen people, including women, for lodging a protest near the main gate of the Sindh Assembly against alleged disappearance of two Karachi University students.

However, all of them were released late in the evening.

Doda Illahi and Ghamshad Baloch, the two KU students, were allegedly taken away from their residence in Gulshan-i-lqbal on June 7.

Their relatives and members of civil society organisations had set up a camp outside the Karachi Press Club for the last four days. On Sunday night, they marched on the Sindh Assembly, where they staged a sit-in demanding release of the `missing` students.

A police source said that the protesters had agreed and vacated the place late on Sunday night on assurances that their meeting would be arranged with officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department on Monday. However, both the police source and the organisers of the protest said the officials` promise did not materialise.

On Monday at around 4:50pm, around 120-130 relatives and members of different organisations, including Sammy Din Baloch, Abdul Wahab Baloch, Amna Baloch, Naghma Sheikh, took out a rally and staged a sit-in near a gate of the assembly.

The protesters delivered speeches and demanded that the authorities be recovered their loved ones. However, their protest was disrupted by the police, which took into custody dozens of protesters.

SSP-South Asad Raza told Dawn that the police detained 19 men and nine women as they tried to `enter` the assembly building.

However, he denied that police tortured or used force against protesters. He said policewomen detained the female protesters.

The organisers of the protest accused the police of resorting using force against unarmed protesters. They said the police manhandled unarmed men, women and children.

Meanwhile, SSP Raza said on Monday night that the police released all of the held protesters.