LAHORE, Pakistan — Authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province shut all schools and universities for two days on Friday in an attempt to contain the spread of protests by students over an alleged on-campus rape . The closures in Pakistan’s most populous province affect an estimated 18 million students.

Punjab authorities also ban gatherings as hundreds are arrested while protesting reports of a rape on a college campus.

Pakistani police clashed with student protesters across multiple cities after reports of an alleged rape at a Lahore college went viral. Violence erup

Pakistani police fired tear gas and charged at student protesters who ransacked a college building Thursday, as anger spread over an alleged on-campus rape, prompting the government to shut schools, colleges and universities for two days.

Pakistani police fired tear gas and charged student protesters who ransacked a college building Thursday, as anger spread over an alleged on-campus rape. Tensions have been high on college campuses since reports about the alleged rape in the eastern city of Lahore went viral on social media,