Pakistan: Violence erupts, Metro station set afire as Imran Khan supporters gather for protest

Pakistan: Amid Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for fresh elections, violence broke out in the country on Wednesday, May 26, during which his party’s supporters set fire to a Metro station.

Imran Khan, who was ousted as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in April called on his supporters to gather at Islamabad’s D-Chowk for a ‘peaceful’ protest rally to demand fresh elections. His call for the protest came after Pakistan’s Supreme Court directed authorities to allow the protest rally in the national capital and restrained them from arresting the cricketer-turned-politician.

The protesters gathered in thousands and started removing the barricades, which led to a clash with the police.

The ruling party said that Khan’s decision to hold a rally at the D-Chowk was a violation of the Supreme Court that had asked his party to organise the rally at a ground in H-9 Sector of the capital city.

Soon after the clash broke out, police arrested hundreds of PTI workers and some of its leaders to stop them from joining the protest being dubbed as ‘Azadi March’. TV channels showed the police firing teargas and beating up PTI’s supporters in the Punjab province. Several women and children were reportedly injured in the police firing in Lahore’s Liberty Chowk area.

A group of PTI supporters allegedly set the China Chowk Metro Station and uprooted several trees and shrubs along Jinnah Avenue, leading to the D-Chowk.