LAHORE, March 30: Ordinary citizens descended upon the heavily- fortified US consulate off Davis Road here on Sunday to protest what they called a “blatant interference in Pakistani affairs”.

Around 200 members of the Concerned Citizens of Pakistan (CCP) that included students raised slogans against the US president and Pakistan government for giving in to the Washington pressure.

The protesters began by making a round of the press club but later, as emotions ran high, decided to move on to the premises of the consulate. Dozens of heavily armed policemen looked on and prevented the protesters from moving too close before an appropriate distance was agreed upon.

Echoing PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s words to top US diplomat John Negroponte last Wednesday, Supreme Court Bar Association Punjab media coordinator Azhar Siddique told protesters: “The United States is killing innocent people on Pakistani soil and then branding them terrorists. This must stop.

“Wherever the US has intervened in the world, they brought nothing but violence, pain and misery.”

Justice (retired) Nasira Iqbal said that the US-led invasion of Iraq was a prime example of how, despite spending billions of dollars, the US had failed to secure peace.

CCP representative Hamid Zaman added: “They are the champions of democracy in their own country, why cannot they allow the same to occur here? We are not extremists; we just want the same things as people everywhere: peace, prosperity, democracy.”

Feryal Ali Gauhar also read from her open letter to US ambassador to Anne Patterson.

Protesters expressed dismay at the ongoing support being given to President Musharraf, and the reluctance of America to support the restoration of the Nov 2 judiciary.

The protest also marks a departure from the days when Anti-American street protests were the sole-domain of Islamic or leftist parties, or indeed the poor. Many of the protesters present wore designer sunshades and carried designer handbags, as well as displaying perfectly manicured toenails.

Tension on the faces of police began to ease as the protest wore on and the event ended with the recital of the national anthem, which the police who were present also participated in.