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Anti-Sharif protests intensify

September 1, 2014

Protesters have relinquished control of Pakistan’s national television broadcaster. Thousands armed with rocks and sticks have marched toward the official residence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to force him to resign.

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Pakistan Protest Islamabad Tränengas Polizist 1.9.
Image: Reuters

About 1,000 protesters stormed the headquarters of Pakistan's state-run television Monday, blocking transmission and holding employees hostage. The government has deployed more than 40,000 police and soldiers to protect the high-security zone in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, where hundreds of protesters have clashed with police near Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's residence.

On Sunday, army officials had urged the government and protesters to settle their differences peacefully, but also warned that the military had "committed to playing its part in ensuring security of the state," after clashes left three dead and hundreds injured.

Since August, followers of the cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan and the enigmatic cleric Tahir ul-Qadri have camped outside the prime minister's residence, calling for him to step down. They accuse Sharif of rigging the parliamentary elections that brought him into office in June 2013.

'A real independence'

Over the weekend, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters attempting to march on Sharif's official residence. Violence intensified overnight on Saturday, when thousands of protesters stormed police barricades set up around the parliament building and adjacent residence. The clashes signaled an escalation in Pakistan's two-week political crisis.

Medical sources said that at least three people were killed in the weekend's protests and more than 500, including children and police officers, were injured. Islamabad police chief Khalid Khattak said opposition demonstrators were equipped with large hammers, wire cutters, axes and a crane.

Proteste gegen Regierung in Pakistan 31.08.2014
For a moment on Sunday, protesters had the riot police on the run.Image: Reuters

"I will not leave my people alone and keep fighting until we secure a real independence for Pakistan," Khan told his supporters on Saturday, before posting a a photo of himself standing on a shipping container to the social networking site Twitter.

Standing atop the shipping container on Sunday, Khan vowed to continue his protest "until our last breath," adding that he would file murder charges against the prime minister over the violence. On Monday, and standing on the same shipping container, Khan said: "I call upon my workers to remain peaceful. Do not carry out any acts of violence. God has given us victory."

mkg/ksb (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)