Pakistani police have fired tear gas and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan with batons to prevent them from reaching the capital Islamabad.
Key points:
- Live local television footage showed police fighting with fans
- The unrest comes after Khan was ousted in a vote of confidence by a united opposition last month
- The former prime minister is now leading a rally in the capital, calling for the dissolution of the new government and a date for new elections.
“We are receiving reports that police have loaded batons and fired tear gas to break up protesters,” Amjad Malik, an Interior Ministry official, told Reuters.
Political and economic volatility has deepened in the South Asian nation ahead of a likely announcement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) later this day on whether to resume a $ 6 billion (8.5 billion) bailout package .
With foreign reserves falling to $ 10.3 billion, below two months of imports, a rapidly crumbling rupee and double-digit inflation, political turmoil has exacerbated riots in the country.
Khan urged his supporters to march on the capital and stay there until the new government is dissolved and a date for new elections is announced.
Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. (AP photo: KM Chaudary)
He was ousted in a vote of confidence by a united opposition after losing his partners in his coalition government last month.
Malik said no one was seriously injured in the clashes, which were reported mainly in Punjab province, and that police had also detained dozens of activists.
‘No one can stop us’
Live local television footage showed police fighting with fans, hitting them and in some places breaking the windshields of their vehicles and hitting them in police vans.
Islamabad’s entry and exit routes have been blocked, as well as all major sites, including parliament, government offices and diplomatic missions, officials said.
Entry and exit points were also blocked to and from all major cities in Punjab Province and Grand Trunk Road (GT), they said.
Strong contingents of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed since Tuesday evening.
Khan is leading a demonstration that started in the northwestern city of Peshawar and was to reach the capital by GT road.
“No one can stop us,” Khan said from the top of a truck on the GT road on the way to Islamabad.
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“We will stay in Islamabad until the dates for the dissolution of the assemblies and elections are announced,” he later said in a tweet, rejecting reports from local media that an agreement had been reached with the government to suspend the march after holding a public meeting. in the afternoon.
The Minister of Information, Marriyum Aurangzeb, also denied any such agreement.
The government had banned Mr Khan from marching, saying he was taking the protesters to Islamabad with a “bad design”.
“You have given us a collapsing economy and now you are planning to sit down and protest,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a ceremony in Islamabad on Wednesday.
“We are trying to revitalize this weak economy.”
Khan’s party has asked the Supreme Court to order the government to lift the restrictions.
Reuters / AP