J&K: Several hurt as intense clashes break out between students, security forces
Srinagar: Intense clashes broke out between groups of students and security forces outside a Srinagar school on Monday morning and later spread to city’s commercial hub Lal Chowk (Red Square) and its neighbourhood.
Several students and security personnel have been injured. Police have arrested about half a dozen protesting students, witnesses said.
Groups of youth from neighbouring localities joined the stone-pelting mobs and security forces faced tough time controlling the situation.
The entire area was filled with acrid smell of tear and pepper gas as the policemen fired dozens of canisters to disperse the stone-throwing mobs of students along Moulana Azad Road, Residency Road, Regal Chowk and Lal Chowk areas of uptown Srinagar.
This has caused severe eye, respiratory and skin irritation among the passers-by, traders and shoppers in these areas and they can be seen fleeing towards backstreets of Maisuma, Aabi Guzzar and Sheikh Bagh.
The clashes erupted after police intercepted students when they came out of Sri Pratap Higher Secondary Institution along Moulana Azad Road, chanting slogans against police and the government.
Students said they wanted to protest against the atrocities inflicted on them allegedly by police during the recent student unrest in the Valley.
Police and CRPF, however, did not allow them to take on the Moulana Azad Road and fired teargas in order to push them back into the campus. Students retorted by hurling stones at security personnel, triggering clashes.
The schools and colleges had earlier in the morning reopened after remaining shut for about one week. The authorities had ordered closure of the Valley’s educational institutions “as a precautionary measure” in view of protests inflamed by the alleged police atrocities on students of a degree college in southern Pulwama town on April 15.
While over 50 students, including females, had been injured in Pulwama, about 150 more students and over two dozen security personnel were injured in subsequent incidents elsewhere in the Valley.
The protests continued even after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti appealed to the people to help restore peace and normalcy in the Valley to ensure smooth academic, economic and tourism activities.
“Kashmir already witnessed tragic human, educational and economic loss and it can’t afford be pushed into perpetual disempowerment and darkness," she said.
Kashmir University Students Union (KUSU) called upon the student community to resume their classes after what it said a successful display of resistance, unity and valour. It was the KUSU which had earlier called for protests on April 17 against the Pulwama.
