By Charlotte Greenfield and Mushtaq Ali

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has suspended street protests and demanded his release from prison after a sweeping overnight raid by security forces in the capital Islamabad in which hundreds of people were arrested, local media reported on Wednesday.

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

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

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

Geo News and broadcaster ARY both reported that security forces launched a massive attack in pitch-black central Islamabad, where lights were switched off and a barrage of tear gas was fired. The protest rally was almost completely dispersed, they reported.

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

PTI had planned to stage a sit-in in the red zone until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.

The PTI president for Peshawar city in the party’s northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said the party had called off the protest.

“We will outline the new strategy later after proper consultation,” Mohammad Asim told Reuters.

He said both Bushra Bibi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key ally of the Khan, had returned to the province “safely” from the capital.

Pakistan’s benchmark stock index rose more than 3% in early trade on Wednesday, reversing losses on Tuesday when the index closed 3.6% lower on news of political clashes.

(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)