The anti-riot force personnel resorted to water-cannon and tear gas when they failed to hold back the protesting lawyers at the judges' entrance gate. Before taking out a rally, the lawyers registered their protest and dismantled iron-grill gate installed for the safety of chief justice block. However, Rangers deployed for the security of the block did not let them move forward.
Later, the charged lawyers marched on the Mall Road and gathered outside the LHC judges' entrance gate in a bid to restrict exit of Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and other judges.
The police force first fired water-cannon and then tear gas when the lawyers started throwing stones on the personnel and broke into the gate. The tear gas affected passersby and commuters moving around two kilometres radius of the high court. Flow of traffic on the Mall Road and adjoining thoroughfares remained disturbed for whole day as the lawyers came back and staged a sit-in outside the judges' gate. Some 12 lawyers were shifted to Mayo Hospital after they received injuries during the clash with police personnel.
President Lahore High Court Bar Association Ch Zulfiqar Ali and Lahore Bar Association (LBA) Ch Tanvir Akhtar led the lawyers' protest. They chanted slogans against the chief justice and demanded the larger bench to recall arrest warrants of Advocate Qureshi.
The police however cordoned off the protest area on the demand of lawyers. Speaking at the sit-in, Pakistan Bar Council member Ishtiaq A Khan claimed that the high court had no jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against any lawyer involved in alleged misconduct. He argued that respective bar councils were the appropriate forums to deal with such cases under Legal Practitioner & Bar Councils Act 1973. Later in the evening around 7.00 pm, LBA President Ch Tanvir Akhtar announced to culminate the sit-in with a call to observe a complete strike and sit in on Tuesday (today).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017