Several Pakistani policemen hurt during altercations with former Prime Minister Khan’s supporters

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Saturday that more than 80 police officers had been hurt in fights with followers of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan who were participating in a march close to Islamabad.

Leading the march is the chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a region in northwest Pakistan where Khan’s party is still in power. The marchers want to meet in the capital against the prohibition on gatherings in order to demand Khan’s release and stir up unrest against the ruling coalition.

“The convoy, led by the chief minister, fired on the police and continuously used teargas against law-enforcers,” Naqvi told the media.

He claimed that since Friday, when fighting broke out during an anti-government rally just outside the city, over 80 police personnel had received medical attention for injuries.

To stop the gathering, the authorities have closed off Islamabad and disabled phone service.

Ahead of several high-level diplomatic gatherings over the next two weeks, including a visit by India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Islamabad is on high alert.

Although the convoy was heavily armed, Naqvi claimed that the police had been told not to carry firearms in order to stop the situation from getting worse. To improve security in Islamabad, the administration has sent the army into the city.

The country’s parliament and a secure enclave of foreign embassies are located in the city’s “red zone,” where the demonstrators want to assemble.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party claims it wants to have a peaceful assembly and disputes the use of violence.

In the past, Naqvi had urged the PTI to postpone any event until after diplomatic visits to the city, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit that is scheduled for October 15–16 and is expected to be attended by delegates from China, Russia, and India.

Naqvi stated on Saturday that the authorities have information suggesting the demonstrators intended to cause disruptions during the SCO conference in an effort to draw attention.

“This cannot be tolerated. I’ll tell them once more not to breach any more lines and not to force us to take drastic measures, Naqvi declared.

In addition to claiming that the protest in Islamabad is only temporary, the PTI is organizing a meeting on Saturday in Lahore, which is in the east and has closed its highways.