Anti-government protesters marched towards Pakistan’s parliament in Islamabad on Tuesday night with the aim of forcing the country’s prime minister to resign.

Riot police and paramilitaries had tried to seal off the diplomatic designated secure zone before the march started but were ordered not to intervene once the demonstrators arrived.

Former cricketer Imran Khan who is head of the country’s third largest political party, and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri are leading the protests.

Demonstrators used cuters and cranes to force their way past barricades of shipping containers into the so-called ‘Red Zone”. Now they are there government options are running out.

Both Khan and Qadri want Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to quit accusing him of rigging last year’s election and of being corrupt.