Police from different police stations marched to the spot after receiving a call from the community that local residents were approaching their worship place.

“Six SHOs, a DSP, a divisional SP and an SSP rushed to the site along with armed policemen on the direction of Lahore Operations DIG Faisal Kamran to rescue members of the Ahmadi community at any cost,” a police officer told Dawn.

The police rescued the Ahmadi worshippers, including women and children, and shifted them to a safe place.

Police reportedly engaged with religious leaders to maintain peace in the area.

An Ahmadi worshipper told Dawn his community had built a worship place on Poonch Road and got it registered with the relevant government department.

He said he heard slogans when they were worshipping inside the religious structure.

“I also rushed out of the worship place using the backdoor, left my motorbike unattended and ran to avoid a possible attack," he said.

“The Ahmadi community took a sigh of relief when a heavy contingent of the police reached the site, took many of them into custody and rescued the worshippers, shifting them to a safe place,” he said.

He said the protesters had accused the community of violating the time schedule of worship.

He, however, rejected the claim.