LAHORE: Two protests in the city on Thursday triggered traffic mess on The Mall and in and around Gulberg.

The protest of the lady health workers (LHWs) continued for thethirdday(Thursday)onThe Mall where they had gathered to seek fulfillment of their demand for one-scale upgradation.

In Gulberg, there was a trafnc gridlock at Liberty Roundabout and the surrounding areas when more than 100 deaf-mute cricketers gathered at Centre Point. They blocked both sides of the road, causing traffic jam at Liberty, Kalma Chowk underpass, MM Alam Road and in adjoining areas.

The protesters demanded that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) restore their association and dispersed after negotiations with the board officials.

Some motorists alleged thatthe traffic police failed to control the situation and did not work on a diversion plan. They said the students of schools and colleges remained stuck on the main boulevard for quite some time.

A similar situation was reported on The Mall where the LHWs gained renewed vigour when political party leaders announced their support for them. Senior PPP leader Samina Khalid Ghurki visited the protest camp and assured her party`s support for the LHWs.

She informed them that her party chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari called her (Samina Ghurki) and asked her to visit the protest venue. She urged the Punjab government to lend sympathetic hearing to the LHWs and accept their demands.

During Thursday`s agitation, an LHW from Chinot fainted and was taken to hospital where she was administered treatment. The protesters put up new demands including change in the service structure approved by the previous government, regularisation of the contract employees and streamlining the promotion matters.

Their representatives lamented that the health authorities were not showing flexibility and warned them that they would widen the scope of the protest to whole of province in the coming days. They refused to leave the sit-in place till the acceptance of their demands.