Indian security personnel fired shotgun pellets and tear gas on Saturday as thousands of people carried the body of a 12-year-old boy killed overnight during an anti-India protest here.

9 October 2016 - 12:21
Clashes erupt in Srinagar after teen killed in protest

Indian security personnel fired shotgun pellets and tear gas on Saturday as thousands of people carried the body of a 12-year-old boy killed overnight during an anti-India protest here.

Chanting “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom”, thousands of residents marched to the Martyr’s Graveyard in Srinagar for the burial of Junaid Ahmad.

Police and paramilitary personnel fired warning shots, pellets and tear gas, fearing the procession could turn into a larger rally calling for an end to Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region, said a police officer. Some tear gas shells landed near the mourners carrying Ahmad’s body, which was draped in a Pakistani flag with pro-freedom slogans written on it.

Clashes broke out as hundreds of young men hurled rocks at the troops while another group of mourners changed route to bury the deceased. Clashes spread to at least four other neighbourhoods in downtown Srinagar, with scores reported injured.

After the clashes, the authorities placed the main city in India-held Kashmir under a curfew.

“We are taking all possible measures so that the protests don’t spread to other areas,” a police officer said, referring to the curfew.

Ahmad was critically injured on Friday evening after he was hit by shotgun pellets all over his body. He died at a hospital overnight.

Residents said he was hit inside his home compound, some nine metres from clashes between protesters and government forces. Police claimed he was part of the clashes.

At least 50 people were injured during dozens of clashes on Friday as tens of thousands of Kashmiris protested against Indian rule.

Government forces continued firing shotguns to disperse angry crowds despite repeated warnings from India’s Home Ministry to minimise their use amid widespread outcry against such weapons by local and international rights groups that have sought their ban.

The pellets have killed at least six people and left hundreds of civilians with serious eye injuries, with dozens losing their eyesight.

Meanwhile, a police official was killed after suspected militants fired at a police post in the disputed region.

Reyaz Ahmed, a police officer, said on Saturday that a group of militants appeared on the outskirts of southern Shopian town overnight and tried to snatch weapons from a police bunker.

He said that the militants opened fire after police resisted, leaving a policeman dead and two others wounded.

The violence came as India-held Kashmir is experiencing its largest protests against Indian rule in recent years, sparked by the killing in July of a popular militant leader by Indian soldiers.

The protests, and a sweeping military crackdown, have all but paralysed life in the region.

More than 100 civilians have been killed and thousands injured, with hundreds among them blinded and maimed, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets at rock-throwing protesters.




/257

Tags