Several thousand supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is in prison, gathered today in Islamabad despite the blockade of the main streets.

The protesters removed the blockades that the authorities had set up on the main streets in the center of Islamabad.

Khan's party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) organized such a massive rally for the first time since he was arrested.

Khan and the PTI claim that all cases, including corruption, brought before the court against him are politically motivated.

He was in power from 2018 and was replaced in 2022 by a vote of no confidence. His arrest last year sparked an avalanche of protests by his supporters, prompting a crackdown by the state.

He is believed to have lost the confidence of the military, and the PTI claims that the party's candidates won the most seats in February's parliamentary elections but ultimately failed to form a government formed from a coalition of other parties seen as close to the military.