Islamabad:
At least 300 people were wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, hospital officials said on Sunday, as a fortnight-long political impasse took a violent turn.
The violence, which began late on Saturday and continued till early Sunday, erupted after around 25,000 people marched from parliament to the Prime Minister's house, where some attempted to remove barricades around it with cranes.
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To check the protesters, the police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Islamabad police chief Khalid Khattak told AFP that the police exercised restraint but the protesters were armed with axes, wire cutters and hammers. According to Railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, the protesters even tried to uproot the entry gate of the prime minister's house.
"There are 1,600 to 2,000 trained terrorists. They have 200 women who are trained in the use of firearms and they have come with the intention of occupying state buildings," Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told AFP as the fighting broke out late on Saturday. AFP's correspondent at the scene said protesters were carrying batons, iron rods and sling-shots.
The injured were rushed to Islamabad's two main hospitals, and the number of casualties is expected to rise as clashes continue.
Wasim Khawaja, spokesman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Islamabad, told AFP said most of the victims had been injured by rubber bullets, and that 35 of them were women.
Private TV channels broadcast footage of protesters breaking the outer iron grill of parliament house and entering at the outer lawn but without entering the main building. Demonstrations have also erupted in the eastern city of Lahore and the port city of Karachi.
The protesters, led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri, had been camped outside parliament house since August 15 demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quit amid allegations of vote rigging. Khan and Qadri claim the 2013 elections which saw Sharif sweep to power were massively rigged.
The crisis took on a new dimension earlier in the week after the government asked the powerful army to mediate, raising fears the military would use the situation to enact a "soft coup" and increase its dominance over civilian authorities.
Local and foreign observers said the polls were credible, and analysts believe the protests have been coordinated by the powerful army as a means of re-asserting its dominance over civilian authorities.
Khan told Express News during the clashes that he was inside a shipping container in front of the prime minister's house. "We will continue our struggle against the government, till our last breath," he said, calling for demonstrations across Pakistan. Qadri was in a bullet-proof car close to the scene, according to television images.
The government earlier struck a defiant note, issuing a statement saying that Sharif would not be stepping down. "There is no question of resignation or proceeding on leave by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, nor any member from the government side has made such suggestion," it said.
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