Pakistan charge protesters at march launch

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Pakistan police baton-charged activists and manhandled dozens into vans in Karachi Thursday, as scores defied the government to launch a mass protest that has thrown the country into crisis.

Lawyers in black suits and opposition party activists carrying flags and punching their fists in the air marched in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi, demanding that embattled President Asif Ali Zardari reinstate sacked judges.

Organisers hope that hundreds of thousands of lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists will join a four-day convoy on the 1,500 kilometres (940 miles) route from Karachi to Islamabad, where it is supposed to arrive Monday.
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Main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, locked in a showdown with Zardari, has urged the masses to rise up against the weak civilian government, which is struggling with political crisis, economic meltdown and Islamist violence.

A nervous government banned all protests in Sindh, the province of Karachi, and Punjab, the country's most important political heartland, and security forces guarded key installations amid fears of violence.

Read more: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/pakistan-charge-protesters-at-march-launch-20090312-8wez.html