Around 40 people were killed in Karachi on May 12 during the country's worst ethnic clashes for two decades -- the bloody climax to two months of protests against the removal of top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Thousands of President Gen Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several Pakistani cities Thursday, the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.

About 3,000 lawyers, opposition activists and civil rights campaigners gathered for about an hour in the centre of the eastern city of Lahore, chanting "Musharraf, go!" and calling for the restoration of democracy.

The violence started between pro- and anti-government camps but developed into fighting between Mohajirs, or people whose families fled India after partition in 1947, and Pashtuns hailing from northwest Pakistan.

"There are certain elements who gave ethnic colour to the crisis in a bid to create further chaos and cause more bloodshed in Karachi," Musharraf told a public rally in the central town of Dera Ghazi Khan.

"However the conspiracy hatched by these elements cannot work as political groups have already begun discussing ways to promote and preserve peace in Karachi," he said in the televised address.