Now we know why Republicans hate lawyers

For all that the headline "Pakistan police clash with lawyers" seems on its surface to be funny, it's notable -- and cautionary for Americans -- that lawyers are at the forefront of the protests against Pakistan Prime Minister Gen. Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on dissent in Pakistan:

the biggest gathering, about 2,000 lawyers congregated at the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore. As lawyers tried to exit onto a main road, hundreds of police stormed inside, swinging batons and firing tear gas. Lawyers, shouting "Go Musharraf Go!" responded by throwing stones and beating police with tree branches.

Police bundled about 250 lawyers into waiting vans, an Associated Press reporter saw. At least two were bleeding from the head.

Aftab Cheema, the city police chief, said lawyers started the trouble by throwing stones. However, Sarfraz Cheema, a senior lawyer at the rally, condemned it as police brutality that "shows how the government of a dictator wants to silence those who are against dictatorship."

"We don't accept the proclamation of emergency," he said.

Clashes also were reported in Karachi, where 100 lawyers were arrested, and in Rawalpindi, where at least 50 were detained. In Multan, dozens of lawyers chased a car bringing two newly appointed judges to the high court, chanting "Shame on you!" and "Traitor judges!"

The pesky thing about lawyers is that they know the law. When you have a dictator (or as in the case of the U.S., a would-be dictator) cracking down on dissent, it's the lawyers who are the biggest threat.