Police baton-charge journalists in Karachi

Karachi: Police in the southern city of Karachi used batons to break up a large group of journalists protesting against curbs on the media that have accompanied the imposition of emergency by President General Pervez Musharraf.

Dozens of policemen in riot gear and wielding batons surrounded some 300 journalists outside the Karachi Press Club as they tried to march towards the governor's house.

The police unleashed brutal force even as anti-Musharraf slogans and cries for press freedom filled the air.

Some half-a-dozen journalists were injured and those detained included the presidents of the Karachi Press Club and the Karachi Union of Journalists.

Police then shoved the protesters around but dozens of journalists were still around to voluntarily court arrest half-an-hour later.

About 180 journalists were reportedly detained during the protest.

Camps targeted

Police also resorted to a baton charge outside the offices of Geo TV - one of the two banned television networks - where protesting journalists had set up camps.

In neighbouring Hyderabad city, police detained 23 journalists as they tried to take out a rally. All the detainees were, however, released after a few hours. Similar protests were reported from other parts of Sindh province.

In Sukkur, protesting journalists continued their hunger strike for the fourth consecutive day.

The arrests come as the government announced the release of some 3,400 political and civil rights activists detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law since the imposition of emergency.

In Sindh alone, 293 people were released from jails, but another 11 still remained behind bars - charged with sedition but spared provisions of the MPO, officials said.