Dozens injured in police action against stone-pelting mobs in Srinagar
Srinagar: More than three dozen protesters and a shopkeeper were injured when the police and the CRPF fired dozens of teargas canisters and pellet shot guns to quell stone-pelting mobs at Nowhatta in central Srinagar on Friday.
Three reporters and a press photographer were also injured while covering the clashes.
The witnesses said that soon after the Friday congregation at nearby Grand Mosque was over, a huge crowd comprising mainly youth while chanting pro-freedom slogans attempted to take to the Nowhatta chowk (square). The J&K police and the CRPF quickly came in their way and started bursting teargas shells to push them back.
The crowd responded by hurling rocks and other missiles at the security personnel, leading to ding-dong street battles which continued for several hours.
Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Omar Farooq alleged that heavy deployment outside the historic Jamia Masjid led to tension and that dozens of civilians coming out of the mosque were injured when targeted by the security forces with teargas and pellets. “Large number of people including old and women were unable to come out of the mosque. I condemn the government forces’ brutality.”
The police officials said that it were the “miscreants” who attacked their men with stones after the Friday namaz resulting into injuries to several policemen.
Late Friday evening, the police issued a formal statement on the incidents saying that the police personnel were deployed in the area to "facilitate the worshipers and prevent any untoward incident" on the second Friday of Ramzan.
It said that after the prayers in Jamia Masjid, a huge crowd of youth "started brandishing anti-national flags and banners and heavy stone pelting on security forces who were deployed away from the mosque near Nowhatta Chowk".
The statement further stated that during stone pelting dozens of CRPF and J&K police personnel including SDPO Khanyar and SHO Nowhatta were injured. "One of the CRPF personnel namely HC JD Gurcharan Singh F/28 suffered grievous head injury. Then miscreants about 700 to 800 in number assembled near the main gate of Jamia Masjid and again started heavy stone pelting on the security forces,” the statement said.
It added, the security forces showed utmost restraint and "some ammunition was used to disperse the miscreants and hence minimal force was used to control the situation "
