Pakistani ex-PM Imran Khan’s supporters rally, taunt police

By BABAR DOGAR and MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan are defying a ban on rallies in a commercial area of the city of Lahore, taunting police and asking to be arrested en masse. The protest is part of the ex-premier’s latest campaign seeking to “fill the jail cells” with detainees as a way to pressure the administration into holding early elections. The rally by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf opposition party got under way on Wednesday in Lahore but police made no move to detain Khan’s supporters. At that point, several barged into a police van parked nearby and demanded they be taken into custody. Police officers insisted they were not going to arrest them.