Islamabad, Sept. 30 (PTI): Over 230 Opposition lawmakers resigned from Pakistan’s national and provincial assemblies to resist President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election bid, as journalists observed a “Black Day” today condemning the police action during protests against the general.

Eighty-four members of the national assembly and 152 of the four provincial assemblies from the Opposition alliance All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) submitted their resignations to their respective party leaders, Raja Zafarul Haq, senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), told reporters here.

The APDM is headed by exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N.

Haq said the resignations will be submitted to the Speaker of the national assembly and the respective Speakers of the provincial assemblies on Tuesday, a day after the election commission displays the final list of candidates for the October 6 poll.

Journalists all over the country marched with black flags today to protest against the tear-gas and baton charge on mediapersons covering the protests before the election commission yesterday during the scrutiny of nominations for the presidential poll.

Sixty-four people were injured, including 13 police officers, 31 journalists, two Opposition lawmakers and several passers-by in the clashes, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency said.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists decried the government action as “shameful”. “It was the darkest day in Pakistan’s history,” Mushtaq Minhas, president of Islamabad’s press club, said.