LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani officials say at least five people have been killed in clashes in Lahore between police and followers of an anti-Taliban cleric critical of Pakistan’s government.
The cleric, Tahir-ul-Qadri, is based in Canada but has a network of mosques and religious centers across Pakistan. Qadri led a rally of tens of thousands of his supporters that shut down the capital last year, calling for a delay in elections to prevent electoral fraud. He plans return to Pakistan on June 23 and rally against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The clashes started when authorities came to Qadri’s house and seminary complex to remove security barriers that they said had turned the entire vicinity into a no-go area.
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