LAHORE, Dec 3: A gathering of around 100 students and lawyers found an innovative way to protest against the imposition of emergency on Monday by symbolically ‘renaming’ the Municipal Town Hall Chowk, opposite the National College of Arts on The Mall as Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry Square.

Waving placards and shouting slogans for the restoration of democracy, the group placed a banner over the crossing proclaiming its new name and laid wreaths before it.

Ghulam Nabi, a member of the Supreme Court Bar Association, inaugurated the square by cutting a ribbon, while Chaudhry Zulfiqar and Qayyum Rehmat, a representative of the Students Association to Rescue Pakistan (SARP), addressed the gathering. Zulfiqar saluted the struggle of civil society and students for standing with the judiciary.

Naveed Jan (whose name has been changed), a student present at the scene, told Dawn: “We salute Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as the pioneer of this whole movement. I am personally very impressed by his actions, and he’s a national hero.”

He said SARP would approach District Nazim Mian Amir to officially recognise the new name given to the Chowk. He said they would keep protesting until the judiciary and media was freed.