In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, hundreds of pro-Iran protesters tried to enter the US consulate, sparking clashes with police
At least 17 people were killed this Sunday across Pakistan, as protesters enraged by the death of Iran’s supreme leader took to the streets, with some attempting to storm US diplomatic buildings.
In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, a journalist from AFP witnessed hundreds of pro-Iran protesters trying to enter the US consulate, causing clashes with the police. At least 10 people had died and more than 70 were injured by Sunday evening, the Karachi police surgeon’s office said. Earlier, a hospital balance seen by AFP listed nine people dead from gunshot wounds.
In the northern city of Gilgit, at least seven people were killed and many others were injured in clashes with police, rescue official Zaheer Shah told AFP by phone.
Thousands gathered in the streets of the capital Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, with AFP witnessing police fire tear gas to disperse crowds near the US embassy.
Israel and the United States launched their massive air campaign against Iran in the early hours of Saturday, which it has ruled for decades and sparking outrage in neighboring Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who maintains close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday night that Khamenei’s death was a “violation” of international law.
“It is an age-old convention that Heads of State/Government should not be targeted,” Sharif wrote in X. The “people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of mourning and pain and extend the most sincere condolences for the martyrdom” of Khamenei, he added.
At Sunday’s protest in Karachi, people shouted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies. “We don’t need anything in Pakistan that is linked to the US,” one protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP. Earlier, a crowd of young people climbed the main gate and gained access to the entrance to the consular building, breaking some windows. The police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.
The embassies of the United States and Britain have urged their citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.
American ‘Puppets’
Around 4,000 people took to the streets in the capital Islamabad, where AFP journalists heard gunshots fired into the air, believed to be to disperse the crowd, and were met with tear gas even before the planned start of a rally at 3 p.m.
Zahra Mumtaz, a 52-year-old housewife from neighboring Rawalpindi, said: “Our leader has been martyred and we are not even allowed to protest.” “The least the government could do is let us express our pain,” she told AFP, crying. “Our leaders are nothing more than American puppets… The Americans and Israelis will have to pay for this.”
In the northern city of Skardu, Protesters invaded and set fire to a United Nations office, causing black smoke to rise from the building, an AFP reporter saw. At least three nearby vehicles were completely burned. Thousands of people also took to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore.
Since the launch of US-Israel operations, Prime Minister Sharif has announced several calls with other regional leaders — whose countries have been targets of Iranian retaliatory strikes — and called for restraint. His statements notably called the attacks on Iran an “Israeli operation” — excluding mention of major U.S. involvement.
*AFP
