After the ruling, clashes quickly erupted near the Supreme Court building between police and hundreds of celebrating supporters of the former premier. As police swung batons and fired tear gas, protesters with sticks smashed police car windows.

For a nation accustomed to military takeovers, political crises and violence, the turmoil of the past week has been unprecedented. Since Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday, protesters have been clashing with police in areas around the country, and mobs have attacked military and government sites, trying to storm the military’s main headquarters and burning down the residence of a top general in Lahore. The government responded with a crackdown on Khan’s supporters, arresting more than 2,000 so far.

As the Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest two days ago was illegal, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday urged Khan to appeal to his supporters to remain peaceful.

Though Khan was released from custody, the court ordered him kept under protection of security forces in a safe location in the capital, Islamabad, the head of his legal team, Babar Awan, told reporters. Awan underlined that Khan is a “free citizen” and will be allowed to meet with lawyers and supporters. Khan is next to appear before the Islamabad High Court on Friday, Awan said.

Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif denounced the Supreme Court ruling at a press conference, calling it a “special reprieve” for Khan and saying the court was ignoring his supporters’ attacks on military and government installations.

The violence has escalated a long burning confrontation between the former prime minister and the current government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Khan was removed from office a year ago by a no-confidence vote in Parliament, but he still holds fervent support in many areas. He also faces at least 100 criminal charges against him filed by various government agencies, mostly on corruption. Khan has depicted his removal and the charges as part of a campaign against him by Sharif, the United States and the Pakistani military — a claim all three deny.

The spark was the former leader’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday. Khan was in court for one set of charges, when anti-graft agents barged in, dragged him away and shoved him into an armored vehicle in connection to other charges.

In the violence that ensued, at least 10 of his supporters were killed and dozens injured, along with more than 200 policemen wounded. Protesters torched trucks, cars and police vehicles in the streets and blocked highways. It has echoed unrest that followed the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto during an election rally. Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan.

Police filed new terrorism charges on Thursday against Khan and top leaders from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on charges of inciting mobs to violence.
In an address to the nation late Wednesday, Sharif said Khan was arrested because of his involvement in corruption, and that there was evidence backing up these charges.

He said the unrest had forced him to deploy the military in Islamabad, in Punjab – Pakistan’s most populous province — and in volatile regions of the northwest.

Following the violence, the government shut down schools, colleges and universities in Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where Khan has massive grassroots support and where most of the violence was reported. At least seven of the protester deaths so far have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Punjab’s capital Lahore, along with one in the southwestern city of Quetta. The government also suspended Internet service in various parts of the country.

“We will arrest all those who disrupted law and order,” said Mohson Naqvi, the chief minister in Punjab.

Protester attacks on the military have been startling. The military has directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of the 75 years since the country gained independence from British colonial rule and wields considerable power over civilian governments.

Khan supporters have attacked the military headquarters in Rawalpindi and security posts in the northwest. In Lahore on Tuesday night, demonstrators ransacked and burned down the residence of the regional commander, Lt. Gen. Salman Fayyaz Ghani.

The military vowed on Wednesday to respond to attacks by demonstrators with full force. It said the attacks on its installations were launched in an orchestrated manner, and the violence was a “black chapter” in the country’s history.