Pakistan’s national television channel has been taken off air after its headquarters were stormed by anti-government protesters in Islamabad. PTV showed live footage of people pouring into the building before its transmission ended. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. They accuse him of corruption and electoral fraud, charges he denies. Earlier, fresh clashes erupted between protesters and police. A number of policemen were reported to have been injured in the violence as thousands of demonstrators – some wielding batons and throwing stones – moved on the main building housing Pakistan’s federal bureaucracy and Prime Minister’s House. Riot police were forced to retreat from the main road in front of parliament, Constitution Avenue. Protesters attacked vehicles and set fire to shipping containers placed on the road as roadblocks. On Sunday night protesters used trucks to smash through the outer fence of the parliament building, even though the building was guarded by troops, the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad reports. Demonstrators loyal to opposition politician Imran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri have been taking part in a sit-in in the centre of the capital for two weeks. – BBC online
