A Pakistani court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s release on bail for two weeks, his lawyer said on Friday, following an arrest that sparked deadly unrest in the nuclear-armed nation.

The arrest, ruled “invalid and unlawful” by the Supreme Court a day earlier, fuelled instability in the nation of 220 million at a time of economic crisis, with record inflation, anaemic growth and delayed IMF funding.

Khan arrived amid tight security at the court in Islamabad on Friday as his supporters clashed with police elsewhere in the capital, broadcaster Geo TV reported.

“The court has given a two-week bail,” Khan’s lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, told reporters.”

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested for violence since Khan’s detention on Tuesday and at least eight have been killed.

Khan, 70, is cricket hero-turned-politician who was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote and who is Pakistan’s most popular leader according to opinion polls. He was arrested on Tuesday by the anti-graft agency in a land fraud case. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Violence triggered by his arrest has aggravated instability in the country of 220 million people that is grappling with a severe economic crisis. The crisis has eroded hopes of a quick resumption of an International Monetary Fund bailout programme.