Police tear-gas anti-Musharraf protest in Islamabad: witnesses

Riot police used tear gas and batons here on Thursday to disperse hundreds of protesters chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, AFP reporters witnessed. Around 400 people, including lawyers and supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) screamed “Death to Musharraf” when police stopped them from visiting former chief justice of Pakistan. President Musharraf deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under emergency rule in November last year. Chaudhry remains under house arrest in Islamabad. The protesters tried to break through a police barricade outside the upmarket Marriott Hotel, which is near Chaudhry’s house, but were forced back by baton-wielding police who then fired tear gas. Waving black flags, the protesters regrouped and chanted: “We will lay down our lives for the chief justice.” Former premier Nawaz Sharif was prevented from meeting Justice Chaudhry on Wednesday.