Indian troops enforce lockdown to foil Kashmir protest march
- Police detained a rebel leader, leading to scuffles and clashes in which troops fired tear gas and protesters threw stones
Soldiers and police fanned out across Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday to enforce a security lockdown for a second straight day to stop anti-India protests and foil a call by separatists for a march towards India’s main military garrison in the disputed region.
Government forces patrolled streets in the region’s main city of Srinagar and sealed off all roads leading to the base.
Three Kashmiri leaders, known as the Joint Resistance Leadership, or JRL, called for Kashmiris to march to the army cantonment to protest the killings of seven civilians and three rebels during an Indian counter-insurgency operation over the weekend.
Police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear and carrying automatic rifles laid steel barricades and barbed wire on roads and junctions to cut off neighbourhoods in a bid to stop protests.
Defying restrictions, dozens of activists, some wearing symbolic shrouds with the words “Indian army, kill us all” printed on them, marched in Srinagar’s main business hub.