Pat Dollard | Young Americans

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani police fired tear gas Monday at scores of demonstrating lawyers who were demanding that President Pervez Musharraf reinstate the deposed supreme court chief justice.

Helmeted police in riot gear fired several tear gas canisters at about 200 lawyers and other demonstrators, who were shouting slogans outside the residence of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. The country’s most senior judge has been under house arrest along with his family since Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3.

The police crackdown was filmed by television news cameras that broadcast the incident live to people around Pakistan. Many lawyers were seen coughing and bending over after being hit by clouds of the acrid smoke. Some picked up the canisters and threw them back at the policemen, who retreated before regrouping.

The lawyers had gathered outside Chaudhry’s house after hearing unconfirmed television reports that the government has lifted the house-arrest restrictions on his wife and three children. The lawyers became agitated when it became apparent that the reports were apparently incorrect.

“Free the children, Go Musharraf Go!” shouted the lawyers, who also demanded that police allow them to go inside the house, which is surrounded by barbed wire.

Earlier Monday, the the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, announced that lawyers will observe a “black flag week” beginning March 9 to mark the first anniversary of an attempt by Musharraf to fire Chaudhry. He said lawyers will pass out black flags to people and stage demonstrations.

Musharraf’s initial attempt to fire Chaudhry failed, but he successfully dismissed him and dozens of other senior judges after declaring emergency on Nov. 3. The crackdown came just before the Supreme Court was to rule on the legitimacy of Musharraf’s re-election in October by a parliament dominated by his supporters.

Several other Supreme Court judges and prominent anti-Musharraf lawyers, including Ahsan, were also put under house arrest. Ahsan was released on Sunday.

“There is no example in history where 60 judges have arrested and detained with their families and eight of them continue to remain in detention to this day,” Ahsan.

The lawyers’ movement will add further pressure on Musharraf, who has become increasingly isolated politically after his party was trounced in the Feb. 18 elections.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party came first and second in the polls.

The dismissal of judges sparked some of the strongest criticism that Musharraf has faced to his rule after he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 when he was the army chief. Musharraf retired from the army in last November and allowed the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.

He is now expected to face a hostile Parliament after opposition groups that won the elections pledged to cooperate with each other against his rule.