Police baton charge lawyers, arrest 30

LAHORE - Heavy contingent of police on Friday baton charged lawyers at Aiwan-e-Adl when they tried to take out a rally against the Lahore High Court chief justice who did not transfer District Sessions Judge Lahore Zawar Ahmad Sheikh due to his alleged humiliating conduct with the lawyers. During the clash one dozen lawyers received severe injuries and four police officials also got wounded as the protesting lawyers pelted the cops with empty glass bottles. The police arrested more then 30 lawyers including two female ones and confined them in different police stations of the City. On Thursday, the police had arrested a good number of lawyers when they tried to storm the Lahore High Court chief justice courtroom. Some protesting lawyers also broke windowpanes of the courtroom, however, the representative bodies of the lawyers denied such allegations saying some other persons broke the same as they knew well the importance and sanctity of courts and law. On Friday, the lawyers first held a meeting in the civil courts bar room under the chair of vice president Saeeda Lubna, and then tried to come out on the road outside Aiwan-e-Adl for taking out the rally against the arrests of lawyers on Thursday, and the Punjab governments decision for arresting the lawyers who chanted anti-LHC CJ slogans. Section 144 was also imposed for stopping the lawyers to take out the rally, however, the black coats violated it to press for their demands. The police entered the bar room and brutally tortured some of the lawyers who could not manage to escape. They were dragged outside the room by the cops as a result of which one female lawyer received severe injures on her leg. The police threw tear gas inside the court premises for dispersing the furious lawyers. Traffic coming from different roads towards the courts was diverted to other roads as the clash continued for hours on the road.

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