Pakistani police storm home of former PM Imran Khan and arrest 61

Police stormed the ex-prime minister's residence on Saturday

Pakistani police stormed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's residence on Saturday and arrested 61 people amid tear gas and clashes between Mr Khan's supporters and police, officials said.

Senior police officer Suhail Sukhera, who led the operation in an upscale Lahore neighbourhood, said police acted to remove a barricade erected by members of Mr Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party and his defiant supporters.

He said they blocked the lanes around the residence with concrete blocks, felled trees, tents and a parked truck.

Mr Khan was not in the home, having travelled to Islamabad to appear before a judge to face charges he sold state gifts while in office and hid his assets.

The judge postponed that hearing until March 30.

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Mr Sukhera said baton-wielding supporters or Mr Khan attempted to resist police by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and a man on the roof of the residence opened fire.

At least three police officers were injured.

Mr Sukhera said police broke open the main door of the residence and found automatic weapons, Molotov cocktails, iron rods and batons used in attacks on police during the week.

He added that inside the sprawling residence illegal structures had been erected to shelter people involved in attacks on police that have injured dozens of officers.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said later that police would do a complete search of the home, where they found bunkers and suspected more illegal weapons and ammunition were hidden.

He said in Islamabad, Mr Khan and many of his supporters were armed.

Witnesses in Lahore said police attempted to disperse Mr Khan’s supporters by firing tear gas and chased them to several homes in the Zaman Park neighbourhood.

Mr Khan's lawyer appeared in an Islamabad court on Saturday after a top court on Friday suspended Khan's arrest warrant, giving him a reprieve to travel to Islamabad and face charges in the graft case without being detained.

Mr Khan had been holed up at his home in Lahore since Tuesday after failing to appear at an earlier hearing in the case.

His supporters hurled rocks and clashed with baton-wielding police for two days to protect the former premier from arrest.

Mr Khan’s motorcade arrived on Saturday near the federal judicial complex in Islamabad, where his supporters also clashed with police who prevented them from entering the complex.

The enraged supporters threw rocks at police who responded by lobbing tear gas canisters to disperse them.

Mr Khan’s supporter set two police vehicles and several motorcycles outside the judicial complex on fire while dispersing, according to Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

Mr Khan, now the opposition leader, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April. He is accused of selling state gifts while in office and concealing assets, charges he denies.

It’s one in a string of cases that the former cricket star turned Islamist politician has been facing since his ouster.