(Daily Point) — Foreign tourists cycling through Sadiqabad towards Lahore have reported instances of severe assault and sexual harassment allegedly perpetrated by Punjab police after entering their jurisdiction on January 25.

A video capturing a police attack on the cyclists surfaced on Saturday, revealing that this incident was one of several alleged assaults faced by the cycling tourists—Alex Sidney of Italy, Charlie West of the UK, and Motahhareh Abbasi of Iran—since they entered Punjab.

Despite having a Punjab police escort assigned for their security, the cyclists claim to have been attacked by the very police meant to ensure their safety.

Alex, one of the three tourists cycling in Pakistan, initiated his bicycle journey from Italy in 2022. Over the last two years, he cycled through Europe before arriving in Pakistan. Motahhareh joined Alex in Tehran while he was traveling towards Pakistan.

“On Saturday, when we left our hotel in Sadiqbad in the morning, we were escorted by police. We were having breakfast at a roadside hotel when another police van, different from our escort, reached there. We had never seen these three policemen before,” Alex shared with a national daily.

According to Alex, ASI Liaqat began shouting at his Iranian friend Motahhareh to get up. He claimed that when they asked why, there was no response.

Instead, the officer allegedly attempted to snatch the camera, grabbed Alex by the hair, threw him to the ground, and tried to hit him with a large stick before returning to his vehicle with the camera.

Alex revealed that when the policeman instructed his driver to leave, they attempted to stop him.

Alex claimed that when Motahhareh tried to block the vehicle’s path, the policeman reportedly instructed the driver to run her over.

Alex asserted that he jumped onto the police vehicle to prevent his camera from being taken, but the vehicle sped away with him on board.

Furthermore, Alex stated that he kept shouting, urging the policemen to stop the vehicle. After covering a kilometer, the vehicle eventually stopped, allowing Alex to jump off. According to the Italian tourist, their own escort reportedly maintained a distance and did not intervene.

Thirty minutes later, more policemen arrived at the scene. The same vehicle returned, and the alleged policeman reportedly handed over Alex’s camera to an officer.

The policeman pointed his gun towards Motahhareh when she started recording him, Alex claimed.

Contrary to the police’s claim that the tourists were stopped from going to the unsafe area of Kashmore, Sindh, Alex said that they were going to Lahore, not Kashmore.

Alex stated that while cycling in Sindh, mostly escorted by police, they did not encounter any such incidents. He claimed that in Punjab, they followed the route as instructed by the police, and this was where the alleged incidents occurred.