Protesters, Police Continue to Clash in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 5, 2007 — -- President Bush expressed dismay Monday over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf 's declaration of emergency in Pakistan and said he directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call Musharraf to deliver the message that "that we expect there to be elections as soon as possible and that the president should remove his military uniform."

Even as he was critical of Musharraf's actions, Bush called him a "strong fighter against extremists and radicals." Bush added that Musharraf "understands the dangers posed by radicals and extremists. After all, they tried to kill him three or four times."

Bush said he hopes Musharraf will "restore democracy as quickly as possible."

Earlier in the day, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that while Musharraf had taken Pakistan "pretty far along the path to democracy," his declaration of emergency Saturday "is definitely a setback."

In Pakistan, several thousand protesters, mostly lawyers who have led much of the opposition against Musharraf, continued to clash with police on Monday.

In Lahore, police used tear gas and stones in an attempt to quell the protesters. Dozens of them were arrested, but they remained defiant in what has been the most violent day since Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, a key ally to the United States in the war on terror.

About 3,500 protesters have been arrested, according to The Associated Press.

While U.S. officials have expressed dismay over Musharraf's actions, the administration has not said it would cut off billions of dollars of military aid to Pakistan.

"We will review all of our assistance programs. And we are going to be mindful that we should not undermine any of our counterterrorism efforts there either," Perino said.

She argued the administration needs more time with the Pakistan issue -- answering to critics who say the White House won't do anything significant:

"I think critics are going to say a lot of things, but we are just 48 hours into this and I think it deserves a thorough review, a comprehensive review, and not something that we should rush in terms of any actions that we take. If and when actions are taken, they will be done after a thorough and comprehensive review," Perino said.

Even without immediate action, the chorus of administration voices expressing deep concern over developments in Pakistan is strong.

"The actions of the past 72 hours have been disturbing," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "We urge President Musharraf to return his country to law-based constitutional and democratic rule as soon as possible."

In a news conference in Ramallah, West Bank, Rice said, "I want to be very clear. We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections," reported the AP.

Musharraf suspended the constitution in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling that could have prevented his re-election as president. He ousted independent-minded judges and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent.

Musharraf has said the declaration of emergency was to crack down on terrorists, but so far he has cracked down on his opponents, detaining more than 700 lawyers, journalists and human rights activists.

Perino noted that Pakistan has a difficult situation with many terrorists in the northern region, and Musharraf has "helped to fight against them."

She added that "these terrorists are the enemy of all innocent people, not just Americans but the Pakistanis as well."

In Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, the scene was much calmer, but lawyers gathered outside the district courthouse to plot their next move. Meanwhile, busloads of Pakistani police were brought in and machine gun positions set up.

"We have decided to struggle and fight until the registration of judges, until the registration of basic and fundamental rights, until the withdrawal of martial law," lawyer Hanuna Rashid told ABC News' Martha Raddatz. "We will fight in the streets, we will fight in the roads."

Outside the court, police appeared to be leading away the head of the country's bar association, but when ABC News arrived with cameras, the police disappeared. The protesters say, however, that arrests could come at any time.

"Every lawyer is expecting to be arrested," Rashid said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.