Scuffles as hundreds of lawyers protest against Zardari
(4 Sep 2008) 1. Riot police before Supreme Court 2. Protesting lawyers and civil society groups in front of parliament 3. Lawyers chanting (Urdu) "Who killed Benazir Bhutto? Zardari did." 4. Protesters calling for restoration of sacked lawyers 5. Close up of banner reading 'Restore Judiciary' 6. Protesters chanting 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Sardar Asmatullah, president Rawalpindi Bar Association: "And the presidential election is the day after tomorrow, but it should be in the mind of everyone who is opposing the restoration of the making of the non-functioning judiciary, that they should not put this country in the hot water." 8. Protesters walking 9. Lawyers chanting "Long live the lawyers!" 10. Lawyers clinging to the gate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, police trying to pull them down 11. Various of scuffle between lawyers and police 12. Mid police baton charge 13. Lawyers gathered around injured lawyer, placing handkerchief on top of his head 14. Injured lawyer in ambulance with supporters 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Athar Minullah, Spokesman Lawyers movement: "It is very unfortunate. You see, in the last 17 months, the lawyers of this country they have protested in the most peaceful manner and they have protested to strengthen democracy in this country. They have struggled for the supremacy of the constitution and the supremacy of the law and they will continue to do that 'til the actions taken on the third of November are not reversed unconditionally". 16. Ambulance on road STORYLINE: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Pakistan's parliament on Thursday, two days ahead of presidential elections there, to protest against one of the candidates in the race. The demonstrators were mostly lawyers gathered from bar associations around the country. They aimed their protest at presidential hopeful Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the ruling political party the Pakistan People's Party. The lawyers are unhappy that Zardari, widower of slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has so far failed to honour promises to restore judges sacked by former President General Pervez Musharraf, who resigned on 18 August, 2008. "The presidential election is the day after tomorrow, but it should be in the mind of everyone who is opposing the restoration of the non-functioning judiciary, that they should not put this country in the hot water," said the president of the Rawalpindi Bar Association. The protests turned into scuffles with police as the lawyers moved towards the country's Supreme Court. Police moved in with batons to stop the crowd entering the court grounds. At least one lawyer was injured and taken away by ambulance. A spokesman for the lawyers movement said that the violence was '"unfortunate". "You see, in the last 17 months, the lawyers of this country they have protested in the most peaceful manner and they have protested to strengthen democracy in this country." said Athar Minullah. Zardari is expected to easily win the presidency in Saturday's vote by lawmakers. The party of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), is fielding Saeed Uz Zaman Siddiqui, a retired judge as its candidate. On Wednesday, prosecutors confirmed they were pressing ahead with corruption cases against Sharif, a move his supporters said was aimed at further sidelining his party ahead of presidential elections. In mid-August, Sharif and Zardari's parties forced Pervez Musharraf to quit the presidency. Sharif left the coalition soon after over disputes about who should succeed Musharraf and how to restore judges that had been sacked by the former president last year. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
