Supporters of Pakistan’s Imran Khan call off protest, local media says

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party suspended street protests demanding his release from jail after a sweeping midnight raid by security forces in the capital, Islamabad, in which hundreds of people were arrested, local media reported Wednesday.

Broadcaster Geo News, citing a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) statement, said the party had announced a “temporary suspension” of the protest, in which at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, have been killed.

A PTI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Thousands of protesters had gathered in the center of Islamabad on Tuesday after a convoy, led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, broke through several lines of security all the way to the edge of the city’s highly fortified red zone.

Geo News and broadcaster ARY both reported that a massive raid was launched by security forces in pitch-dark central Islamabad, where lights had been turned off and a barrage of tear gas was fired. The protest gathering was almost completely dispersed, they reported.

On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital. The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi had been leading the protests that appeared charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.