Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

PROTESTS HAVE broken out in flood-stricken regions of Pakistan, prompting fears of further unrest as aid agencies struggle to cope with a disaster that has affected at least 20 million people.

Dozens of protesters, burning straw and wielding sticks, blocked a highway outside Sukkur, a major town in the southern province of Sindh, yesterday to demand assistance from the government. All were survivors of the floods that have coursed from Pakistan’s mountainous northwest through its agricultural heartland in Punjab and on to Sindh since late last month.