Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan led a demonstration that included thousands of his supporters and headed towards the capital, Islamabad, today, Wednesday, while clashes erupted in several places between the demonstrators and the police, who were tasked by the government to prevent them from reaching the capital.

Khan had announced that he intends to organize a long march towards Islamabad on Wednesday, stressing that his supporters will not leave the street unless the government calls for early elections before the scheduled date in October 2023.

"No obstacle will stop us, we will break all barriers and reach Islamabad," Khan said, standing on the roof of a truck after leading the main demonstration.

Pakistani police clashed with supporters of Khan's "Insaf Movement" party, and arrested a number of them while they were preparing to participate in the protest "freedom march" called by Khan and which was pre-empted by the transitional Pakistani government on Tuesday by issuing a ban on it.

The police arrested a number of party supporters in the city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province, while they were preparing to participate in the protest march, which is supposed to reach this evening, Wednesday, the capital, Islamabad.

The government deployed additional police, who closed all roads to Islamabad using cargo containers, in anticipation of the march aimed at dissolving parliament and setting a date for early general elections.

In the city of Lahore, police fired tear gas canisters to disperse protesters as they tried to remove obstacles on roads leading to the capital, Islamabad, as schools closed and emergency services in hospitals were put on alert.

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Behrpur Shilling @OmarCheemaPTI @Hammad_Azhar @ImranKhanPTI.

pic.twitter.com/Nj2xmhSJcp

— Zeeshan Bakhsh (@ZeshanBakhsh) May 25, 2022

Today, the police distributed a traffic plan in Islamabad, showing all entrances to the capital closed and under heavy security.

It also closed all the main roads leading to the capital in terms of the cities closest to it, which are Peshawar, Lahore and Multan.

One of the workers said while searching for a way to reach the capital, "We have previously seen the capital closed, but what we are witnessing today is unprecedented. Every alley leading to the capital is closed."

As Qom Ku Shamshir Ki Hajat Nhiں Rhti Hau Jis Qi


Joanں Ki Khoudi Your picture Foolad Shaheen Kabhi Prwaz Sei Tak Kr Nhiں Gärta پر پر گر گی گی گر کوگی گی نگیِ که که کی Khodi Your picture is Foolad


Shaheen Kabhi Prwaz Sei Tak Kr Nhiں Gärta پاپرا گر ایا گر کا گریس


کوی اینهیهیهن_کهایںRight.

— ‎The IMRANIST 🇵🇰 (@AJShafquat) May 25, 2022

Imran Khan, a former cricket star, had announced that he intends to organize a long march today, Wednesday, led by his party, which is supposed to attract tens of thousands between Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest) and the capital Islamabad.

Khan stressed that his supporters will not leave the street unless the government calls for early elections before the scheduled date in October 2023. AFP quoted a supporter of the PTI party as saying, "We will reach Islamabad at any cost ... we are following the orders of our leader."

arrest campaign

The Ensaf Movement reported that the police arrested hundreds of its members during the raids last night, and a police source in Lahore said that "more than 200 supporters of the movement in Punjab were arrested on charges of disturbing public order."

For its part, the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday its intention to prevent the march, and Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said in a press conference that the authorities “will not allow” the holding of the march, accusing Imran Khan of seeking to “spread chaos” in the country, stressing that “ No one should be allowed to surround the capital and dictate its terms."

It is noteworthy that Imran Khan was ousted from his position on the tenth of last April by a no-confidence memorandum.

His party, the Insaf Movement, has since been trying to mobilize the street to escalate pressure on the fragile coalition government to push it to call early legislative elections.

Imran Khan promised to organize the largest gathering the country has ever known, saying, "I don't see it as being in the context of politics, but in the context of jihad."

Ambourٹڈ Hawass Hawass Bakhta hi گ 'ay ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya rahi ya rahi ya rahi ya rahi narrator use narrator pil پا پا ا ا ا ا ا پر پا کا ا پر ا ا ا ا ا پر پا پی ای ه ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ا ایاا ا ا ا ا ا گـ کـی په کا ا ا .

— Tehreek-e-Insaf (@InsafPK) May 25, 2022

Imran Khan was elected in 2018 after denouncing the corruption of elites embodied by Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, two rival parties that have dominated politics for decades.

But the deteriorating economic situation, lack of growth, high inflation, the decline in the value of the national currency and the increase in debt, during the past three years, cost him his position and returned the two competing parties to power within a coalition government.

Khan clings to power, stressing that his dismissal was the result of an American "conspiracy", which Washington sees as a "fictional charge."

Khan has lost the support of the country's powerful army, which he was accused of helping to gain power in 2018, and today he stands on the sidelines.

"The army may be inclined to defuse the crisis if the situation worsens," says political analyst Hasan Askari Riz.