Imran Khan’s arrest: Schools shut, social media restricted as protesters clash with Pakistan police

Protests erupted across Pakistan on Tuesday after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested during a court appearance in the capital city. PTI supporters laid siege to military sites, pelted stones, blocked roads and burned banners and tyres. Section 144 has been imposed in several areas and police resorted to firing tear gas and water cannons to counter the PTI supporters.

Khan had been undergoing a biometric procedure at the Islamabad High Court when paramilitary Rangers broke open the glass window and arrested him after beating lawyers and his security staff. The development came mere hours after the powerful military rebuked the former international cricketer for alleging that a senior officer had been involved in a plot to kill him.

Local TV channels showed Khan -- who has a pronounced limp since being shot during an assassination attempt last year -- being manhandled by dozens of paramilitary rangers into an armoured car inside the Islamabad High Court premises. It was not immediately clear where Khan was taken.

The incident also sparked a wave of fury, with protests erupting in many key areas.

In Peshawar, a mob razed the Chaghi monument -- a mountain-shaped sculpture honouring the location of Pakistan's first nuclear test. The agitation turned violent in several areas with PTI supporters burning police vehicles and damaging public property. They also blocked roads in the capital Islamabad, Peshawar, and other cities.

Khan's supporters also stormed the Pakistan Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and the Corps Commander's residence in Lahore after his dramatic arrest in a corruption case. Violent protests also spread to Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh province and Balochistan's Quetta where PTI protesters assembled outside Army cantonment areas.

Khan's supporters smashed the main gate of the army's sprawling headquarters in Rawalpindi, where troops exercised restraint. The protesters chanted slogans against the establishment.

In Lahore, a large number of PTI workers stormed into the Corps Commander Lahore residence and smashed the gate and window-panes. The army personnel present on duty there, however, did not try to stop the enraged protesters who surrounded them and chanted slogans against the ‘handlers’ of the PML-N led government in the military establishment. The protesters held a demonstration in the Cantonment area.

(With inputs from agencies)