Clockwise (from top): Lawyers gathering inside the premises of Lahore High court during clashes in Lahore yesterday.

ISLAMABAD • Pakistan has suspended 14 police for ransacking a private television station office during opposition protests over the sacking of the country’s top judge, officials said yesterday.

“The government has suspended 14 police officers for the incident at the Geo office and has also ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident,” Islamabad police chief Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry said.

The action came after President Pervez Musharraf publicly apologised for the raid on the Geo Television office in Islamabad on Friday by police. The government also ordered a judicial inquiry into the assault widely condemned at home and abroad.

Clashes between police and protestors erupted on Friday as chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry appeared before a judicial inquiry into charges of misconduct brought against him by the military ruler.

In Islamabad, police fought off demonstrators with rubber bullets, tear gas and batons while opposition leaders and lawyers rallied outside the Supreme Court building raising anti-Musharraf slogans.

According to police around 200 politicians, lawyers and activists were detained mostly in the eastern city of Lahore and Islamabad before and during protests but the leaders and lawyers among them were released.

Among those released were the leader of Pakistan’s main alliance of Islamic parties, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who was detained in Islamabad and several members of the parliament, police said.

The lawyers have been holding daily demonstrations since Musharraf suspended Chaudhry last week and sent a case against him to the Supreme Judicial Council headed by Justice Javed Iqbal whom he appointed as acting chief judge.

Meanwhile, Pakistani police yesterday removed barricades from around the home of the nation’s top judge after a week of furious protests over his sacking by President Pervez Musharraf.

The move in the capital came as police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of lawyers trying to storm the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore in protest at the judge’s sacking, witnesses said.

“Over two dozen lawyers were injured in the shelling,” their representative Ahsan Bhoon said. The protest capped a week of growing anger and demonstrations across Islamabad at military ruler Musharraf, who ordered the suspension of justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry over charges of misconduct and abuse of authority.

The lifting of the police blockade around Chaudhry’s home follows an order by a judicial council inquiring into the allegations against him that there should be no restrictions on his movements.

Chaudhry, who denies the charges against him, has previously said that he was being detained at his house.

His lawyer, Ali Ahmed Kurd, said the lifting of restrictions was in line with the orders passed by the Supreme Judicial Council on Friday.

In Lahore, lawyers threw stones and tried to break through the gates of the Lahore High Court building which was surrounded by security forces, local police officer Mohammad Azeem said.

Protester Bhoon said lawyers had called for a countrywide strike on March 21, when Chaudhry would reappear before the judicial council in Islamabad.

Police yesterday fired teargas shells to disperse hundreds of protesting lawyers here in continuing unrest over the suspension of the country’s top judge, witnesses said.

The lawyers gathered in the high court compound in this eastern city but police prevented from them from coming out for a march on the street, witnesses said.

Police lobbed teargas shells when the stone-pelting lawyers attempted to break through the high court’s gates, police officer Mohammad Azeem said. More than two dozen lawyers were injured by the police action, lawyers’ representative Ahsan Bhoon said.