Tear Gas Fired As Cops Clash With Imran Khan's Supporters In Islamabad

Protesters armed with sticks and slingshots took on police in western Islamabad, less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the government enclave they aim to occupy. NDTV reported. The government said one police officer had been killed and nine were critically wounded in two days of clashes with demonstrators as they closed in on the capital.

Khan was barred from standing in February elections that were marred by allegations of rigging, sidelined by dozens of legal cases that he claims were confected to prevent his comeback.

His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular demonstrations aiming to seize public spaces in Islamabad and other large cities.

The capital has been locked down since late Saturday, with mobile internet sporadically cut and more than 20,000 police flooding the streets, many armed with riot shields and batons.

Last week the Islamabad city administration announced a two-month ban on public gatherings.

But PTI convoys travelled from their power base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the most populous province of Punjab, hauling aside roadblocks of stacked shipping containers.

"We are deeply frustrated with the government, they do not know how to function," 56-year-old protestor Kalat Khan told AFP on Monday. "The treatment we are receiving is unjust and cruel."

The government cited "security concerns" for the mobile internet outages, while Islamabad's schools and universities were also ordered to shut on Monday and Tuesday.