Pakistan: Several killed in violent protest at US consulate

DW News · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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At least nine people have reportedly been killed in clashes outside the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, as angry crowds smashed windows, and law enforcement used batons and tear gas to disperse them, officials said. Some 25 individuals are said to have been injured, several of them critically. The clashes came in response to the announcement that Iran's supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei, had been killed in US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.What else do we know about the US consulate clashes? The Reuters news agency cited Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani, a local government spokesman, as saying that US consulate security officials opened fire at the protesters. "No one will be allowed to take the law into their hands," said Sindh Province Interior Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn. Lanjar said action would be taken against those disturbing law and order. The US Embassy in Islamabad says it is monitoring protests in several cities across Pakistan as thousands of pro-Iran demonstrators protest the killing of Iranian religious leader Ali KhameneiImage: Manzoor Balti/AFP According to police in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, authorities have closed all access roads to the so-called Red Zone — a secured area that is home to foreign embassies and government headquarters — as a precaution. The US Embassy in Islamabad on Sunday put out a statement on X saying it continued to monitor, "reports of ongoing demonstrations in Karachi and Lahore, as well as calls for additional demonstrations at US Embassy Islamabad and Consulate General Peshawar." Pakistan has one of the biggest Shiite Muslim communities worldwide. US and Iranian sites targeted by protest globally The US-Israeli campaign has also triggered protests elsewhere. Most significantly in Iraq, another major Shiite stronghold. Protesters in the capital Baghdad on Sunday attempted to breach the city's heavily fortified Green Zone to attack the US embassy. Eyewitnesses reported that several hundred people clashed with security forces who used batons, live ammunition, tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds. In South America, authorities say a number of people attacked an Iranian cultural center in Ecuador's capital Quito on Saturday. Police say one person was injured and the site damaged when a convoy of stick-wielding and tear-gas-throwing individuals broke windows at the institution and assaulted Muslims gathered for Ramadan prayers inside. Videos shared on social media show people with Israeli, US and Iranian opposition flags outside the facility. Speaking with reporters, police called the attack "an act of aggression." Iran's Ali Khamenei killed in US-Israel attackTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Rana Taha