Reactions from the street to protests and clashes

(9 Nov 2007)
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of security barricade and security forces barring entry to street on which Benazir Bhutto's Islamabad home is situated
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sherry Rehman, Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party Information Secretary:
"We are still going on with the march on the 13th (November) and you may see some mobilisation before that in other parts of the country. We are strategising about that tonight and we will announce it tomorrow."
3. Various of shopping district
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Noreen, (no second name given) local:
"This is very undemocratic. I think she should hold the meeting. All the politicians should hold the meetings and they should be free and fair elections in Pakistan and the judiciary should be free also."
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Imran Ahmed, local:
"What has she done for the betterment of the country? She talks of the democracy. What kind of democracy is this that she is the life chairperson of the party? And she wants to be a chairperson by bypassing her own mother?"
6. Wide of street
STORYLINE:
Pakistani police placed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest on Friday, uncoiling barbed wire in front of her Islamabad villa, and reportedly rounding up thousands of her supporters to block a mass protest against emergency rule.
Bhutto twice tried to leave in her car, telling police: "Do not raise hands on women. You are Muslims. This is un-Islamic."
They responded by blocking her way with an armoured vehicle.
The former prime minister had planned to defy a ban on public gatherings and address a rally in nearby Rawalpindi, where police used tear gas and batons to chase off hundreds of supporters who staged wildcat protests and hurled stones.
More than 100 were arrested.
Sherry Rehman, a spokeswoman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party had a defiant message for the country's authorities.
"We are still going on with the march on the 13th (November) and you may see some mobilisation before that in other parts of the country. We are strategising about that tonight and we will announce it tomorrow," she told AP Television.
As night fell, the police presence outside Bhutto's home ebbed away, but the barbed wire remained.
Friday was a national holiday in Pakistan, and many shops were closed during the day.
However, night time brings out the shoppers, and in one of Islamabad's busy shopping districts people expressed differing views on the day's events.
Noreen, a housewife voiced clear criticisms of the way President General Pervez Musharraf has cracked down on the judiciary and political opponents.
"This is very undemocratic. I think she (Bhutto) should hold the meeting. All the politicians should hold the meetings and they should be free and fair elections in Pakistan and the judiciary should be free also," she said.
But local Imran Ahmed made clear his scepticism about Benazir Bhutto's democratic credentials.
"What has she done for the betterment of the country? She talks of the democracy. What kind of democracy is this that she is the life chairperson of the party," he questioned.
Friday's crackdown showed that Musharraf was not letting up on his political rivals, despite saying a day earlier that parliamentary elections would go ahead by mid-February, just a month later than originally planned.
His announcement came after intense pressure from the United States, his chief international supporter.
The Bush administration on Friday urged Pakistan to grant freedom of movement to Bhutto and other political party members and release all protesters.

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