Tens of thousands flooded the streets across the country. Protesters brawled in a small mosque. And, at the upscale Islamabad Marriott Hotel, a fist fight broke out at an Iftar dinner between a lawmaker in Pakistan’s new government and a supporter of the recently ousted prime minister, Imran Khan.
It has been a tumultuous week in Pakistan, where Khan was removed from office in a no-confidence vote in Parliament early Sunday morning, capping a political crisis that pushed the country’s fragile democracy to the brink. For weeks, Khan, a former cricket star, had unleashed fiery denunciations of his opponents at large rallies, demonising them as traitors in an attempt to block the vote.