LAHORE, Pakistan: Police clashed Tuesday with followers of an anti-Taleban cleric critical of Pakistan’s government in the eastern city of Lahore. Eight people were killed in the violence, officials said.

The cleric, Tahirul Qadri, is based in Canada but has a network of mosques and religious centers across Pakistan. Qadri led a rally of tens of thousands of his supporters that shut down the capital last year, calling for a delay in elections to prevent electoral fraud. His plan to return to Pakistan on June 23 and rally against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has once again put him in the limelight.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the clashes killed eight people. The head of Jinnah Hospital, Dr. Abdur Raof, said the hospital received 80 wounded.

The clashes started when authorities came to Qadri’s house and seminary complex to remove security barriers that they said had turned the entire vicinity into a no-go area.

A spokesman for Qadri, Shahid Mursaleem, said the police first shot tear gas to disperse the protesters, then opened fire on them. He said the government is trying to silence Qadri.

Qadri on Twitter accused the government of trying to divert attention away from the army operations in North Waziristan, which Qadri has supported.