The federal government claimed that more than 90 per cent of the Baloch demonstrators, including women and children, who had been taken into custody by the police during protests in Islamabad, had been released. However, scenes outside the Women Police Station on Thursday night showed police shoving women into buses to send them back to Quetta. After talks with the protesters, their ‘repatriation’ was postponed until Friday, when they are likely to be presented in court. The protesters refused to leave unless all of them, including those booked in FIRs, were released. The police action against the protesters in different areas of Islamabad and the families of missing persons camped outside the National Press Club led to several people being taken into custody. Protests erupted across Balochistan against the crackdown on the long march in response to the police action, with sit-ins staged in Quetta and other cities. BNP-M President Akhtar Mengal denounced the crackdown and demanded the release of the demonstrators.