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The protest erupted following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint US-Israeli strikes.
Published On 1 Mar 2026
At least nine people have been killed near a United States consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi after protests broke out following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an official has told Al Jazeera.
Several others were injured as security forces opened fire to scatter hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to storm the consulate early on Sunday morning.
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Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Al Jazeera at least nine bodies were brought to Karachi’s civil hospital.
Video footage shared online and verified by Al Jazeera showed a wounded person being transported by bystanders. Other images showed protesters attempting to storm the US consulate building located on the city’s Mai Kolachi Road.
Large protests also broke out in other parts of Pakistan.
Protesters set fire to a United Nations office building in Pakistan’s northern city of Skardu, in the Shia-majority Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region, known for its Himalayan peaks popular with tourists.
“A large number of protesters have gathered outside the UN office in GB and burned down the building,” local government spokesperson Shabbir Mir told Reuters news agency, adding no casualties had been reported.
Police gather after a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi, March 1, 2026 [Akhtar Soomro/Reuters]In the central city of Lahore, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the US consulate, but there were no reports of violence.
“Some of the protesters tried to damage the security gate, hundreds of yards away from the consulate. However, police stopped them without using force,” Aqeel Raza, a witness, told Reuters news agency.
A demonstration is also expected near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy in the capital, Islamabad, on Sunday afternoon.
Protests in other countries
Demonstrations over Khamenei’s killing have also broken out elsewhere in the world, including Iraq and Indian-administered Kashmir.
In Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis, many dressed in black, attempted to storm the compound housing the American embassy on Sunday despite a heavy security deployment.
Ali, a masked protester, told AFP news agency that “the martyrdom of Sayyed Ali Khamenei has hurt us”.
“We are here because we want the withdrawal of the occupying American forces from Iraq,” he said, referring to US-led coalition troops who have recently reduced their presence and are now mostly stationed in northern Iraq.
Iraqis, one holding a portrait of the assassinated Iranian supreme leader, look on as they try to approach a bridge leading to the Green Zone where the US embassy is located in Baghdad [AFP]Iraq’s top Shia Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urged Iranians to remain united as the government announced a three-day mourning period for Khamenei, who had been Iran’s top political authority since 1989.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, several thousand Shia Muslims joined street demonstrations in the main city of Srinagar where protesters, holding red, black, and yellow flags, converged on the main square.
Many of them chanted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans during the emotionally charged but largely peaceful gathering.
“This day we are all very heavy-hearted. We are mourning our beloved leader who was martyred,” Syed Towfeeq, 40, told AFP. “We all have a message for the [US President Donald] Trump… We will always stand against your oppression.”
