Protests break out in Pakistan, Iraq, Kashmir over Khamenei’s death; 9 die in Karachi

KARACHI - Pakistani police on March 1 clashed with protesters who breached the outer wall of the US consulate in Karachi, leaving nine people dead, following news of

Pro-Iranian protesters also gathered outside the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, where the US Embassy is located.

Pakistan and then Iraq have the largest Shi’ite Muslim populations after Iran.

In Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, protesters had been pushed back from the consulate, a spokesman for the local government said, after they set a vehicle ablaze outside the main gate and clashed with police.

At least nine people were killed in those clashes, police said.

No casualties were reported in the street clashes.

The US Consulate in Karachi and the US Embassy Islamabad Press Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Large protests also occurred in other parts of Pakistan.

Protesters set fire to a United Nations office building in the northern city of Skardu, in the normally peaceful Shi’ite-majority Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region known for its Himalayan peaks popular with tourists.

Earlier in the day in the central city of Lahore, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the US consulate. There were some small-scale clashes with police but no reports of violence.

In the capital Islamabad, all roads leading to the red zone, which houses diplomatic missions and parliament, were blocked for traffic or any other public movement, police said.

Protesters holding red, black, and yellow flags converged on the main square in the heart of Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir.

Many of them chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans during the emotionally charged but largely peaceful gathering.