Riot police smash up TV studio as protests grow against Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf's regime in Pakistan is resorting to increasingly heavy-handed methods to quell protests against him that are growing by the day.

In Islamabad yesterday hundreds of police fought protesters outside the Supreme Court. And as the protests continued, riot police stormed the Geo private television station, which was broadcasting pictures of the protests, tear-gassed the staff and smashed up the studio.

Several high-profile figures were arrested for taking part in demonstrations around the country, including a former president and the leader of one of the main opposition parties. An MP claimed he had been beaten by police at the demonstrations.

Inside the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary was attending his second closed hearing before a special tribunal. At the centre of the row is President Musharraf's attempt to sack Mr Chaudhary. He has accused the judge of "misuse of office", but the move is widely suspected of being politically motivated.

The authorities had already ordered one of Geo's most popular news programmes off the air for its critical coverage of the President's move against Mr Chaudhary. As the channel defied pressure not to broadcast images of the protests, riot police burst into its Islamabad studio to shut it down by force.

But the tactic appeared to misfire badly when Geo was able to broadcast live images of the helmeted policemen forcing their way into the building.

Outside the Supreme Court, police baton-charged protesters who responded by throwing rocks. Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the head of the MMA, a coalition of Islamist political parties, was arrested along with at least seven other MPs. In Lahore, a former president, Rafique Tarar, was arrested leading a demonstration.