Govt crackdown ends PTI protest in Islamabad for Imran Khan’s release

A rally truck used by Bushra Bibi burns near the red zone in Islamabad. Pic/AFP

A midnight crackdown by the security personnel forced the supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to evacuate the D-Chowk and its adjacent main business district of the capital ending their protest.

Police sources said about 450 protestors were arrested in the crackdown and more arrests are expected while Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said it was a violent assault on protesters by security forces firing live rounds with the intent to kill as many people as possible. Earlier on Tuesday evening, PTI supporters battled law enforcing agencies and succeeded in reaching the D-Chowk for a sit-in till their leader told otherwise. The supporters' clash with police killed six security personnel and injured dozens.

Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, who was leading the march to Islamabad from Peshawar along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, announced that the protestors would not go away until Imran Khan was released from jail. However, around midnight, police and Rangers launched an operation to clear the business area, forcing the protestors to move away along with Bibi and Gandapur.

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