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Pakistan protesters to march on Islamabad secure red zone Pakistan protesters march on parliament in red zone
(about 5 hours later)
Security has been tightened in the secure zone of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, after protest leader Imran Khan called on marchers to enter it. Anti-government demonstrators in Pakistan are advancing towards parliament, breaching a designated secure zone in the capital Islamabad.
The government has forbidden protesters from breaching the highly secure so-called red zone housing key state buildings and foreign embassies. Protesters used wire cutters and cranes to move shipping containers barricading the so-called red zone, which houses state buildings and foreign embassies.
There are fears that any attempt by marchers to breach this order could lead to confrontation. They have encountered no resistance so far from security forces, who have been instructed to avoid violence.
Thousands of anti-government protesters are occupying two Islamabad highways. The demonstrators want Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign.
On Monday MPs from Imran Khan's PTI party vowed to quit their national assembly seats. Thousands of anti-government protesters have been occupying two Islamabad highways.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) party has 34 of the national assembly's 342 seats, making it the second-biggest opposition group. The lawmakers have yet to tender their formal resignations to the speaker of the national assembly. Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, has been leading one group of protesters since Friday.
The party said it would also resign from seats on provincial assemblies, except for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which it governs. He accuses Mr Sharif's PML-N party of vote-rigging in the 2013 election and has called on him to stand down.
'First to fall' Mr Sharif's party won that election by a landslide in what was Pakistan's first peaceful transfer of power between two civilian democratic governments.
Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, has been demonstrating along with thousands of his supporters in the capital since Friday to demand the government's resignation. 'Blood boiling'
He accuses Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party of vote-rigging in the 2013 election and has called on him to stand down. Mr Sharif's party won that election by a landslide in what was Pakistan's first peaceful transfer of power between two civilian democratic governments. Anti-government cleric Tahirul Qadri has also mobilised his supporters to march on Islamabad.
The government has accused the protesters of attempting to derail democracy yet have also offered talks on their concerns, but these have been rejected. The government has accused the protesters of attempting to derail democracy. They have offered talks with the demonstrators, but these have been rejected.
Along with Mr Khan, anti-government cleric Tahirul Qadri mobilised supporters to march on Islamabad and they are camped out in the city. The cleric has said his supporters will also march on parliament at the same time as Mr Khan's. The protesters are advancing at a snail's pace, and are not likely to reach the parliament until late in the night, the BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad reports.
"My blood is boiling today and I want to be martyred," protester and Imran Khan supporter Shams Khan, who travelled from the north-west, told the Reuters news agency . Thousands of policemen are deployed around the red zone, and appear to be equipped with riot gear and teargas shells, but not firearms, our correspondent adds.
"If we don't go into the Red Zone today, I will quit this party tomorrow." At the scene: Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad
Anger over services The protesters chanted slogans as they breached the barriers to enter Islamabad's high security zone. The police offered no resistance, though they did steer the crowd through a single route instead of allowing them to spread out.
Security around the red zone has been massively increased, correspondents say, with more police and paramilitary troops deployed there. So tens of thousands of protesters are now set to occupy Constitution Avenue, which many believe will paralyse key state institutions, such as parliament, the Supreme Court and the federal ministries.
One report from the Express Tribune newspaper said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would allow protestors to enter the red zone but not the most sensitive areas. The report also said the PM had made it clear force was not to be used against the protesters. The unrest has seen the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif put on the back foot; first it decided not to resist the protesters' convergence on Islamabad, and later conceded their demands of setting up protest camps where they wanted.
Imran Khan has spent the night in a shipping container at the site of the sit-in but he tweeted on Tuesday that he would lead the march into the red zone, calling it a "defining moment" for Pakistan. Now that they are inside the capital's "red zone", many fear the government's options to defuse the crisis may be shrinking.
The protesters have said they will set off at about 17:00 local time (13:00GMT) Earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said: "The government has decided to hand over the security of the red zone of Islamabad to the army."
Some observers said the move could indicate that the government had the support of the military.
Fear of violence
Supporters of Mr Khan and Mr Qadri are angry about Pakistan's poorly performing economy, growing militancy, and the government's failure to deliver services such as a steady electricity supply.Supporters of Mr Khan and Mr Qadri are angry about Pakistan's poorly performing economy, growing militancy, and the government's failure to deliver services such as a steady electricity supply.
But other opposition figures have criticised the demonstrations and Mr Khan's call for people to stop paying tax bills in protest at the government.But other opposition figures have criticised the demonstrations and Mr Khan's call for people to stop paying tax bills in protest at the government.
In a country with a history of military coups, there is a fear of violence and of a possible army reaction, correspondents say.In a country with a history of military coups, there is a fear of violence and of a possible army reaction, correspondents say.
On Monday MPs from Imran Khan's PTI party vowed to quit their national assembly seats.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) party has 34 of the national assembly's 342 seats, making it the second-biggest opposition group. The lawmakers have yet to tender their formal resignations to the speaker of the national assembly.
The party said it would also resign from seats on provincial assemblies, except for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which it governs.