ISLAMABAD, May 24: Thousands of President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s opponents rallied nationwide on Thursday, the first street protests since a burst of political violence in Karachi deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.

About 3,000 lawyers, opposition activists and civil rights campaigners gathered for about an hour in Lahore, chanting slogans including “Go, Musharraf, go!” and calling for the restoration of democracy.

They also carried banners including “The chief justice is the only truth in Pakistan”—a reference to the head of the Supreme Court, whose suspension has spawned the biggest challenge yet to Musharraf’s eight-year rule.

Lawyers and opposition parties have staged a series of growing protests since Musharraf ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9 for allegedly abusing his office.

An abortive visit by the judge to Karachi to address supporters on May 12 prompted a counter-rally by a pro-Musharraf party that degenerated into two days of clashes and gunbattles which left more than 40 dead.

Opposition parties have accused Musharraf of complicity in the bloodshed and mounted a one-day national strike in protest, while lawyers’ associations said they would hold weekly nationwide rallies.

About 200 lawyers gathered in Karachi on Thursday, raising their fists into the air and chanting.

“The blood of the May 12 martyrs has flowed into the lawyers’ movement,” Iftikhar Javed Qazi, president of the Karachi Bar Association, told the small gathering in front of the city’s press club.

Another 200 lawyers rallied in Multan, where they burned an effigy of the president.—AP