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  Pakistan Security Forces, Protesters Clash Amid Growing Unrest
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Last EditedArmyDem  Mar 15, 2009 10:17am
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MediaNewspaper - Washington Post
News DateSunday, March 15, 2009 04:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionBy Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 15, 2009; 9:36 AM

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 15 -- Thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of this provincial capital Sunday, throwing rocks at police and cheering as they called for the restoration of Pakistan's deposed judges and denounced the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

An extraordinary cross-section of Pakistan's political, social and religious sectors joined the day-long protests, while two major opposition leaders -- former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and top legal dissident Aitzaz Ahsan -- escaped house arrest in the city and led caravans of chanting supporters through the streets.

Security forces sealed off the capital, Islamabad, before dawn, placing shipping containers across all major roads and cordoning off the government center in an effort to block demonstrators from reaching there for a planned peaceful sit-in Monday. There were reports that the government had also jammed the frequencies for cell phone text messages to prevent opponents from coordinating their actions.

But despite the crackdown, which included an emergency ban on public rallies in three of Pakistan's four provinces, protesters in Lahore seemed to overwhelm police as they jammed the city in boisterous tumult. Thousands converged outside the Lahore High Court complex and vowed to depart from there in caravans for Islamabad, about 150 miles away, Sunday night.
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