PML-N protesters clash with Police during 'Long March'

Lahore, Mar 15 (ANI): The police lobbed tear gas and returned stones at defiant supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) here on Sunday after protesters began a sit-in on the main road near the High Court.

The former Pakistani Prime Minister and PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif has vowed to continue the 'Long March' and reach Islamabad to stage a sit-in protest there for the restoration of sacked judges, including the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary.

Protesters including lawyers and the members of PML-N threw stones at police outside the Lahore High Court, where Sharif is due to address a rally provoking the police to resort to use tear gas and baton charge.

Some protesters set tires on fire on the road compelling the police officers wielding sticks to shoo them away.

Earlier in the day, Nawaz Sharif was placed under house arrest at his Model Town residence on Sunday.

Restrictions on Sharif's movement in and around the country were imposed a day before a planned "Long March" by politicians and lawyers' into Islamabad from various parts of the country.

The Pakistan capital was under a state of high alert ahead of the march, and the government has asked the Army to remain on stand by.

Sharif, however, denounced the crackdown as illegal and said he would defy his own detention order.

Soon afterward, Sharif, who had planned to address the demonstration, left his house in a convoy of cars that broke through a ring of barriers, including barbed wire and parked buses that had been placed by the police.

Sharif had earlier exhorted all Pakistanis to come out onto the streets and make the 'Long March' of politicians and lawyers a grand success.

Addressing PML-N leaders and supporters outside his Multan Road residence here, Sharif appealed to all right-thinking Pakistanis to shed their inhibitions and fears in their quest to deliver a message of change in the leadership of the country. (ANI)