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Lawyers protest in Pakistan

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  • Lawyers rally outside house of Pakistan's ousted chief justice
  • Protests demand Chaudhry's reinstatement
  • Police outnumber protests three to one
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Scores of lawyers rallied outside the house of Pakistan's ousted chief justice to demand his reinstatement on Thursday in the latest demonstration against emergency measures imposed by the country's crisis-hit president.

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Lawyers shout slogans outside the house of ousted chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry.

The protest came as opposition leader Nawaz Sharif tried to breach security outside the home of the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry in Islamabad to try to meet with him.

Chaudhry has been kept in his home since November 3, when President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency, using it to crackdown on opponents, including members of the judiciary likely to block his new term as president.

A spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League told CNN that Sharif would attempt to talk with Chaudhry, who was among judges sacked by Musharraf.

Musharraf, who quit as military chief and was installed for a second five year term last month, has drawn criticism from nuclear-armed Pakistan's Western allies for the emergency, which he says will end ahead of a January 8 election.

A police spokesman at the rally told CNN authorities have not placed Chaudhry under official house arrest. The officer cited risks to security and law and order as reasons for keeping him under wraps and restricting access to his home.

Outnumbering protesters three to one, hundreds of Pakistani security force members, some dressed in riot gear, stood behind barbed wire and concrete blocks that blocked off one of the roads leading to Chaudhry's house.

Scores of protesters chanted "Go Musharraf! Go!" while some protesters held signs that said "Stop slaughtering the judiciary" and "No one man show."

Chaudhry has issued key rulings that have weakened Musharraf's grip on power -- including lifting the exile imposed on Sharif, an outspoken critic of Musharraf, the man who ousted him from power in a 1999 military coup.

Sharif returned to Pakistan last month, ending seven years in exile in Saudi Arabia..

Earlier this week Sharif was disqualified from participating in Pakistan's January parliamentary elections because of a previous criminal conviction, a party spokesman said. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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