Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 6: At least 20 people including 6 policemen were injured in clashes that broke out in Baramulla town this afternoon after protesters pelted stones on police station Baramulla.
The protests broke out after the chairman of the hardline faction of Huriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, addressed a gathering in the Main Chowk of the town.
Some of the people from the gathering attacked the police station Baramulla with stones resulting in the ding dog battles between police and the stone pelting protesters.
Around 6 police men were injured in the stone pelting while police resorted to baton charging and tear-smoke shelling at the protesters. At least 14 protesters were injured as police chased them in the township.
The ding dong battles between police and stone throwing protesters created panic in the township. The shopkeepers closed their shops and ran for safety and traffic went off the roads due to the trouble in the town.
The protests and clashes spread to other areas of the town like Tehsil point, Tanga Adda, Khawaja Bagh Adda, Cement Bridge, Bata Gali and Kiraya Park.
Reports said that security forces barged into several houses in the township and beat up people and broke window panes of the residential houses in retaliation.
However, a police spokesman said that some miscreants turned violent and resorted to stone pelting on police station Baramulla after Geelani addressed a gathering at Main Chowk, Baramulla.
“Today after SAS Geelani addressed a gathering at Main Chowk Baramulla a constituent of the gathering indulged in stone pelting on Police Station, Baramulla. However, police exercised maximum restraint and the stone pelters dispersed from the place,” said the police spokesman.
He said that such incidents of violence after the address of Geelani took place at many places during last year.
Meanwhile, in his speech, Geelani said that Pakistan government should not back out from its support to the Kashmiris during the ‘ongoing movement’. He said the only solution to Kashmir lies in implementation of United Nations resolutions adding that any other solution or formula is unacceptable to the people of Kashmir.
Geelani asked people to observe complete strike on Saturday (April 7) against the two year sentence awarded to former chairman of Kashmir American Council (KAC), Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel