Top Islamabad police men 'suspended'

The two top police officials in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and another city official have been suspended, the interior minister says.

Earlier the Supreme Court demanded their suspension following anti-government clashes on Saturday in which many people were injured.

Police used batons and tear gas against lawyers and opposition activists.

The protesters were calling on President Pervez Musharraf to be barred from standing for another term.

Reacting

The three suspended officials are the police chiefs for Islamabad city and Islamabad district and the deputy head of the city administration.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao confirmed that they had been suspended, but gave no further details.

The government was reacting to an order from Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and two other judges.

The judges had been viewing video footage of Saturday's clashes in Islamabad.

Hospital officials told the court that they had treated more than 80 people, many of whom had head wounds, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Chief Justice Chaudhry said that Islamabad's inspector general of police, Marwat Shah was "responsible for all that happened on Saturday", the AFP news agency says.

The protesters were trying to get the Election Commission to stop Gen Musharraf from standing in Pakistan's presidential election due on Saturday.

The day before, the Supreme Court had rejected a number of petitions against Gen Musharraf's candidature in what was a major blow to the opposition.

Police said they were enforcing a law banning demonstrations in the capital.

Protesters said the demonstration had begun peacefully and turned violent because of the huge security presence.

The police have been criticised in the past for their handling of the protests against Gen Musharraf.

In March he tried to suspend Chief Justice Chaudhry. That led to street protests by lawyers that were met with force.

Images of black-suited lawyers covered with blood after being beaten by police helped galvanise opposition political parties into joining in anti-government demonstrations.