ISLAMABAD (AP) — After deploying tear gas and firing into the air to disperse supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan who marched to Islamabad to demand his release from prison, authorities reopened roads connecting Pakistan’s capital with the rest of the country on Wednesday, ending a four-day lockdown.
According to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the protesters have been dispersed and all routes are being reopened.
After at least seven people were killed in skirmishes, police pushed back against the rallygoers, forcing Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, who was spearheading the protest, and other protesters to flee in cars.
The police action took place just hours after thousands of Khan supporters stormed a high-security area and engaged in combat with security personnel after breaking over a barrier of shipping containers that was separating Islamabad and disobeying government warnings.
Since supporters of the former prime minister started a lengthy march from the unrest-plagued northwest on Sunday to seek his release, tensions in Islamabad have been high. In addition to facing more than 150 criminal cases that his party claims are politically motivated, Khan has been incarcerated for more than a year.
A motorcyclist drives through the damaged vehicles left behind by supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party when security forces launched an operation Tuesday night to disperse them, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Anjum Naveed/Associated Press photo
Since Sunday, hundreds of protesters have been taken into custody.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is still in power, Bibi and its leaders fled to Mansehra.
In 2022, a no-confidence vote in Parliament deposed Khan, who is still a well-liked opposition figure.
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