ISLAMABAD: Police clashed yesterday with black-suited lawyers and opposition activists after the launch of a cross-country protest rally in defiance of government attempts to stop it.

The year-old civilian coalition government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari, scrambled for a way to avert a showdown. Interior Ministry adviser Rahman Malik said the “long march” would be allowed to go ahead.

“We’ll not stop them, but if someone tries to take the law into his own hands I must say in the House that he won’t be allowed,” Malik told the National Assembly.

There were clear signs the crisis was causing cracks in the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which rose to power on a wave of sympathy votes following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto before the 2008 elections.

“This is the time that someone should come forward and urge President Zardari to take the right path. Otherwise it will be very damaging for the party,” said Sen. Safdar Abbasi, a senior member of the PPP. “Peaceful marches should not been crushed.”

Paramilitary and police ringed the Karachi High Court where lawyers were assembling, stopping their cars and buses from approaching. They wielded batons to disperse a large crowd of protesters.

Undeterred, several hundred lawyers streamed out of the building on foot, where they joined activists of various political parties aligned against the PPP.

The protesters were later allowed to board buses and cars and head out of the city, but they were stopped at the outskirts where scuffles broke out and police arrested several leaders, including Munir A. Malik, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. “This movement is unstoppable. We’ll fill the prisons,” he said by telephone from a police van.

“Why is a democratic government crushing a peaceful protest?” asked Naeem Qureshi, secretary-general of the Karachi Bar Association. “There is no difference between this government and the previous martial law regime.”

“The only difference is that Pervez Musharraf was a military dictator while Zardari is a civilian dictator,” said lawyer Rana Asad, who was detained for 30 days during Musharraf’s 2007 crackdown on critics and is planning to join the current protests.

The protesters hope to converge on Islamabad on Monday to demand the reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. He was dismissed by Musharraf in 2007.

Zardari has refused to reinstate Chaudhry. Analysts say he fears the judge could nullify an amnesty Musharraf granted to Zardari and his late wife Benazir Bhutto.

The turmoil in Pakistan has worried its Western allies. Zardari spoke by telephone with US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and Ambassador Anne Patterson for 30 minutes yesterday, his office said. Zardari also spoke with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

— With input from agencies