CNN
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Pakistani security forces launched a night operation on Tuesday to disperse thousands of supporters of the country’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after crowds broke through barricades and gathered in the capital Islamabad to demand his release.

Authorities had imposed a security lockdown in the country, imposed internet blackouts and barricaded major roads into the capital to prevent protesters from entering, after Khan called on his supporters to march on parliament.

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters that protesters could remain on the outskirts of Islamabad but threatened extreme measures if they entered the city.

The protesters defied the warnings and marched to the edge of the city’s heavily secured red zone, where they clashed with security forces amid volleys of tear gas and reports of mass arrests. Several people are said to have been killed in the unrest, mainly from the security services.

The latest protests came as Islamabad beefed up security for an official visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived in the capital on Monday for three days of talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

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A convoy of vehicles carrying protesters left the city of Peshawar on Sunday as part of a “long march” aiming to reach the capital, about 180 kilometers away.

Led by Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and Ali Amin Gandapur, prime minister in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – where Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), remains in power – the protesters planned to stage a sit-in held at D -Chowk, a large square near the country’s parliament.

Protesters reached the outskirts of Islamabad on Monday, defying a two-day security lockdown and ban on gatherings. Along the way, police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds and blocked roads with shipping containers to prevent them from pushing through.

Video showed a police station on fire and several fires on the highway. Reuters reported that 22 police vehicles were set on fire just outside Islamabad and elsewhere in Punjab province.

At least six people, including four security officials, were killed in Tuesday’s protests, according to the Associated Press.

Doctors from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences told CNN earlier on Tuesday that five people had been killed, including four security officials and one civilian. Multiple sources told CNN that a car had rammed into them during the protests.

On Tuesday morning, protesters had crossed the city limits and marched to D-Chowk, where soldiers could be seen outside key government buildings, including Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Secretariat.

At midnight, security forces launched a raid to clear protesters and arrested hundreds of people, AP reported.

In a post on X, Khan urged his supporters to “fight to the end.”

“My message to my team is to fight until the end. We will not back down until our demands are met,” he said.

Naqvi, Pakistan’s interior minister, said security forces had suffered gunshot wounds but police were “showing restraint” against protesters.

He warned that if protesters crossed the border, security forces had been authorized to fire back and he could take additional measures, including imposing a curfew or deploying the army.

“Rangers could open fire and after five minutes there will be no more protesters,” Naqvi said. “Anyone who comes here will be arrested.”

The PTI has accused the government of using excessive force and said “bullets were fired at protesters”, which it described as “peaceful”. About 20 protesters were said to have been injured.

CNN cannot independently verify the reports from either side and internet outages have exacerbated communications problems.

In recent days, thousands of Khan supporters have been arrested in the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as authorities tried to prevent the protest march.

Schools in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi were closed on Monday and Tuesday, and officials and witnesses said all public transport between cities and terminals had been halted, according to Reuters.

PTI leader Kamran Bangash said the protesters were “determined and we will reach Islamabad,” adding that “we will overcome all obstacles one by one.”

Protesters are demanding the release of Khan and what his supporters consider political prisoners. They also want the repeal of a new constitutional amendment that increased the government’s power to select superior judges and choose those judges to hear political cases.

Khan’s supporters also believe that February’s elections were not free or fair, calling it a “stolen mandate.”

Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2022 and has since led a popular campaign against the current government led by Prime Minister Sharif, accusing it of working with the military to remove him from office.

The former star cricketer turned populist politician has been in jail for more than a year and faces dozens of criminal cases on charges ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets, all of which he and his party deny.

Khan and the PTI – the country’s main opposition party – remain popular, and his detention has inflamed an already tense confrontation between the country’s powerful military and its supporters.

Khan has repeatedly called on his supporters to take to the streets to demand his release, and violence has broken out in several cities.

A march to Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in early October demanding Khan’s release was met with similar roadblocks and cuts to mobile phone and internet services, and ended in clashes with police.

The protests come at a sensitive time for Pakistan, which has seen a wave of sectarian violence and separatist militant attacks that have killed dozens of people in recent months.