RAWALPINDI, March 3: The local police on Friday arrested 18 people when two groups of demonstrators came on the road in violation of a ban on rallies to protest against the visit of US President George W. Bush to Pakistan, police and witnesses said.

Around 100 people, most of them members of the Imamia Students Organisation (ISO), gathered at Rehmanabad Chowk after Friday prayers and started chanting slogans against the US president. Police baton-charged the protesters when they refused to disperse. Twelve protesters were arrested.

In another demonstration, six persons were taken into custody from the Waris Khan area when they tried to stage a protest demonstration. The protesters appeared from Al-Ikram building and tried to march on the Murree Road but police frustrated their move.

When District Police Officer Saud Aziz was contacted, he said 12 people had been arrested from Rehmanabad and six from Waris Khan area on the charge of violating a ban on rallies.

The DPO said that every possible steps had been taken to prevent the people from gathering, as protest rallies had been planned by some political parties on Saturday.

The opposition parties have called for a two-day protest on Friday and Saturday against the visit of the US president to Pakistan and the publication of blasphemous caricatures in some European newspapers.

Thousands of police and rangers have been deployed in Rawalpindi to reinforce security.

A massive crackdown on some prominent political figures was likely to be carried out sometime after Friday midnight to prevent them from carrying out a protest rally against the US president on Saturday, security sources said.