At least 25 killed at Pakistan's pro-Iran weekend protests

The death toll from Pakistan's violent weekend protests over the killing of Iran's supreme leader has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on today (2 March).

Demonstrations erupted in several major cities in Pakistan, including the southern megacity of Karachi, where some protesters attempted to storm American diplomatic buildings.

An AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the United States consulate, prompting clashes with police.

At least 10 deaths were reported, and over 70 were injured, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said, while a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.

In Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said.

Seven people were killed in Gilgit, a rescue official said, while six others died in Skardu, a doctor told AFP today.

Authorities have imposed a late-night curfew, which will remain in place until Wednesday (4 March) in Gilgit and Skardu, where the army has been deployed on the streets.

Two more people were killed as thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

AFP journalists saw police firing tear gas to disperse crowds near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy on Sunday afternoon.

'Grief and sorrow'

Israel and the United States launched their military operations on Iran early Saturday (28 February), quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighbouring Pakistan.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday evening (1 March) that the killing of Khamenei was a "violation" of international law.

"It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted," Sharif wrote on X.

The "people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom" of Khamenei, he added.

At yesterday's Karachi protest, people chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.

"We don't need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US," a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.

Earlier, a crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.

Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.

The embassies of the United States and Britain both urged citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.