PTI protests spread as police launch operation to arrest Imran Khan.

KARACHI -- Dozens of people were woundAed during violent clashes beAtween police and Pakistan TehAreek: e: Insaf (PTI) protesters outside the residence of former prime minister Imran Khan in Lahore's Zaman Park as the poAlice tried to arrest PTI chairman on Tuesday.

Police sources claimed that DIG Operation Islamabad Shahzad Bukhari and five other policemen of the force were inAjured in clashes with PTI protesAtors who pelted the police with stones. The police used water cannon, fired tear gas shells and arrested several Imran's supAporters amid clashes.

According to a police spokesAman, stones were pelted from roof of the house of Imran Khan but policemen showed maxiAmum patience. SP Rana Tahir Hussain replaced the DIG OperaAtions while SSP (Operations) LaAhore Shoaib Ashraf and SP SarAfaraz Virk are also present on the spot, the Islamabad police spokesman added.

Protests broke out in different parts of the country on the call of Chairman Pakistan TehAreek: e: Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan after party workers clashed with the police at Zaman Park in LaAhore. The PTI workers started protests in Islamabad, RawalpinAdi, Karachi, and Peshawar among other cities after former prime minister Khan through a video message asked his followers to 'come out' following Islamabad police reached his Zaman Park residence to arrest him.

The Zaman Park neighborAhood of Lahore turned into a battlefield as the police and the PTI activists engaged in a pitched battle when the federal and Punjab police reached there on Tuesday afternoon to arrest the party chief Imran Khan in a Toshakhana case.

Armed with clubs and stones, the relentless PTI workers gave a real tough time to the police as they braved the heavy shellAing, baton charge and attack by the water cannon. They put up a strong resistance against the police action and did not let the law enforcers to get close to the residence of their leader.

Scores of party activists and poAlicemen sustained injuries in the clashes which continued from 2:00pm till late at night. The inAjured policemen were shifted to nearby hospitals for treatment. Though the police had cordoned off all the roads leading to Zaman park residence of Imran Khan, the number of PTI workers kept rising as more and more activAists managed to reach the spot from different parts of the city. They pelted stones at the police and kept it engaged at different points around the Zaman Park. The connecting point of The Mall and Canal Road and DhaArampura...