巴基斯坦军队对反政府示威者使用催泪弹

Pakistani security forces have fired into the air and lobbed tear gas in Islamabad, where protesters are holding an early morning march and calling on the country\'s political leaders to resign and dissolve the government.

The demonstrators gathered on one of the city\'s main thoroughfares for an anti-corruption protest. They were acting at the urging of populist Pakistani cleric Tahir-ul Qadri. He told the tens of thousands of people at the protest to march on parliament.

Qadri\'s supporters pushed aside barriers of barbed wire and shipping containers that police had erected to contain the crowd.

Qadri said he would speak to his supporters around mid-day outside parliament to press his demand for the government\'s abdication.

Pakistan is due to hold parliamentary elections in mid-May, and parliament would be dissolved about two months beforehand. But Qadri said the government should step down immediately, to clear the way for an interim Cabinet to root out graft and mismanagement, which he blames for chronic energy shortages, slow economic growth and a rise in crime and Taliban insurgency.

示威者聚集在伊斯兰堡的主要街道，举行反腐败抗议活动。他们响应深受民众爱戴的巴基斯坦神职人员卡德里的号召。卡德里呼吁数十万抗议者到议会游行示威。

卡德里的支持者推开警察为阻挡人群而放置的铁丝网和货箱，向议会大厦进发。

卡德里说，他星期二中午将在议会大厦外面向支持者发表讲话，并要求政府下台。

巴基斯坦定于5月中旬举行议会选举，并将在此之前大约两个月解散议会。但卡德里说，政府应当立即下台，以便成立一个临时内阁，清除贪腐和管理不善，他认为这些因素导致了长期能源短缺、经济发展缓慢、犯罪率上升以及塔利班叛乱。