LAHORE, Oct 12: The PML-N observed Tuesday as black day across the country to protest the military coup that ousted the party's government on Oct 12, 1999. Its workers pledged to continue struggle against the army ruler until he was thrown out of power.

Two separate seminars had been held in the city to mark the day - one arranged by the PML-N's provincial chapter at the Lahore Press Club and the other by the Lahore District Bar Association at Aiwan-i-Adl. While the Shahbaz Sharif Secretariat staged a protest demonstration at Faisal Chowk on The Mall.

Scores of workers gathered at the Faisal Chowk at 10am and chanted slogans against Gen Pervez Musharraf and in favour of party's patron Mian Nawaz Sharif and president Mian Shahbaz Sharif.

Police and other law-enforcement agencies detained around 20 demonstrators, some of them women. They were Sheikh Shahid Iqbal, Amjad Pervez, Dr Aftab Ahmad Butt, Khalid Ghazali, Afzal Qasmi, Sabir Toor, Ramzan, Yaseen, Nasir alias Nasri, Pervez alias Bodi Pehlwan, Syed Dilshad, Salma Butt, Fehmida Naz, Perveen Akhtar and Zubaida Bhatti. They had not been released till filing of this report.

The activists adopted a novel way to protest by detaining themselves in a cage brought to the venue on a truck. The caged women activists had also worn iron chains to protest against the military rule.

A heavy police contingent unlocked the cage and arrested the workers, dispatching them to the Civil Lines police station. Later, they were shifted to the Racecourse police station lock-up.

Speaking at the DBA seminar, PML-N Senior Vice-President Tehmina Daultana criticized the army's role in politics and said generals were directly responsible for all political crises, and leading the country towards socio-economic disaster.

PML-N Punjab chief Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, city secretary-general Naseer Bhutta, LDBA president Mirza Hanif Baig, vice-president Tariq Mahmood Sindhu, secretary-general Maqsood Buttar and other prominent lawyers were also present.

Ms Daultana said all democratic forces should unite to wage a crusade against the dictator and his sycophants for the revival of democracy. Mr Khosa demanded restoration of genuine democracy, supremacy of the 1973 Constitution and exit of the military ruler.

At the Lahore Press Club, the party's central and provincial leaders vowed to resist each and every move of Musharraf-led regime to prolong its rule. They said the party's exiled leadership would soon return to rule the country.

They demanded registration of cases under Article 6 of the constitution against the supporters of uniform. Through a resolution, they demanded that Gen Musharraf should surrender before law by taking off his uniform. They also demanded release of Javed Hashmi, Asif Zardari and all other detained leaders and ARD workers.

RELEASED: Police on Tuesday detained and set free 16 PML-N workers, including five women, when they attempted to hold a protest at Faisal Chowk on The Mall. The workers arrived on the scene from different directions and blocked the road. They tried to set up a camp and also demonstrated against President Musharraf rule in the country.