Fri, July 03, 2009
SRINAGAR, India-controlled Kashmir, July 3 (Xinhua) -- At least20 people were hurt after police used batons and teargas shells to quell the fresh anti-India demonstrations in Srinagar on Friday, eyewitnesses and hospital authorities said.
The protests broke out after Friday afternoon prayers, when people in procession tried to stage demonstration against the killing of four people in Baramulla, 52 kilometers northwest of Srinagar.
The protesters clashed with the police and resorted to stone pelting after police resisted their move. In the standoff at least20 persons including eight policemen and three photojournalists were injured, said a Srinagar-based news agency.
Similar reports were received from the curfew bound Baramulla and Sopore towns, where protesters tried to defy curfew restrictions.
The unrest in the region began on May 30 after two women aged 17 and 23 years were found dead under mysterious circumstances in Shopian town, 50 kilometers south of Srinagar.
Initially police maintained that the two women died of drowning, but forensic experts confirmed that the duo were first raped and then murdered.
Locals suspect the involvement of Indian troopers in the incident.
