ISLAMABAD, April 18: Lawyers and opposition parties braved hot weather to hold a protest demonstration outside the Supreme Court here on Wednesday when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry made his fifth appearance before the Supreme Judicial Council to face the reference filed against him by the president.

Hundreds of lawyers and political activists gathered outside the Supreme Court building. However, the demonstration was said to be smaller than that of April 13, the date of last hearing of the reference.

People had started assembling outside the apex court from early morning. Lawyers came to the venue in a procession from the Jinnah Avenue.

Carrying party flags, posters and banners, the protesters raised slogans of “go Musharraf go” and “Adliya ki azadi tak jang rahay gi”.

Central leaders of opposition parties attended the demonstration, but the participation of the People’s Party Parliamentarians seemed to be small as compared to previous demonstrations held outside the SC in protest against the filing of the reference against the chief justice. Main PPP leaders also did not turn up amid reports that a deal between the party and the government had entered the final round.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Syed Munawar Hassan (MMA), Liaquat Baloch (MMA), Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Ahsan Iqbal and PPP leaders Abida Hussain and Fakhar Imam were among the participants. Other prominent personalities who took part in the protest were poet Ahmad Faraz, former cricket star Majid Khan and former ISI chief Hameed Gul.

Family members of “disappeared” people also attended the demonstration. They were holding photographs of their missing relatives.

Earlier, the chief justice was given a warm welcome by the demonstrators when he reached the Supreme Court at 9:30am along with his counsel to attend the hearing in the reference. He left the court building at about 2pm.

The law and order situation remained under control and security forces and police had been deployed far away from the apex court building.

Police conducted body search of people proceedings towards the SC building. Different roads leading to the SC had been blocked by barricades and barbed wires. Security had also been beefed up at entry points of Islamabad.

However, some women political workers beat up a man who was carrying a badge and posters of President Gen Pervez Musharraf. They tore the clothes of the man, Rana Abdul Hakeem, and the posters. The demonstration, otherwise, remained peaceful.

“The man claimed to be general secretary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League’s Gujranwala city chapter,” lawyer Azmat Qureshi told reporters. He said lawyers would register a case against the man.