SRINAGAR: Over a dozen protesters have been injured in Kashmir after the police and troops fired live bullets to break up protest demonstrations against the hanging of Afzal Guru, witnesses say.
Thousands of people gathered outside Guru’s residence at Doabgah near Sopore, 50 km north of the capital Srinagar after the news of his execution came in, they say.
The protesters had tried to march in a procession when police used force to disperse them. At least 10 people have been wounded, six of them by bullets.
Protests have also been reported from the neighbouring town of Baramulla where, according to local residents, the army fired their guns.
Most of those wounded in the twin towns have been admitted in the district hospital in Baramulla. However two have been brought to the Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura in Srinagar.
But a police spokesperson said that in total 36 people have been wounded so far in clashes, adding that 23 among them were policemen – two of them officers.
A member of the state’s lawmaking assembly, Engineer Rasheed led a hundreds-strong march in the border town of Handwara to protest the hanging.
The police used tearsmoke shells to break up the demonstration. Rasheed has been taken into custody.
Rasheed had petitioned Pranab Mukherjee, during the latter’s visit to the valley as presidential candidate, to pardon Afzal Guru with a view to winning the loyalties of Kashmiri people.
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