Hundreds of protesters clash with police in Indian occupied Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India: Hundreds of protesters in Indian-occupied Kashmir clashed with police Friday as the UN Security Council held its first meeting on the occupied territory in nearly half a century, with tensions soaring over New Delhi´s move to strip the occupied region of its autonomy.

New Delhi ended the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority territory in the first week of August, stepping up movement restrictions and cutting off phone and internet access to head off civil unrest.

Police fired tear gas and pellet-firing shotguns to disperse residents who tried to march down the main road in the main city of Srinagar after Friday prayers.

Protesters hurled stones and used shop hoardings and tin sheets as improvised shields, as police shot dozens of rounds into the crowd.

“We are trying to breach the siege and march to the city centre but police is using force to stop us,” one protester told AFP.

Sporadic clashes were reported Friday in other parts of the occupied Kashmir Valley.

Major towns and cities in the occupied Kashmir remained under curfew, with government forces allowing people to move only on special passes.

Indian government forces erected steep barricades and used concertina wires to block roads.

No big gatherings were allowed in the occupied valley and most mosques were shut for the second consecutive Friday.

The protesters marched along the lanes of Srinagar, carrying black fags — signifying grief — and placards with slogans including “Go India, go back”.

Friday´s clashes took place as a top official said that authorities would begin restoring phone lines in occupied Kashmir on Friday evening, including in Srinagar.

Occupied Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam did not make clear whether mobile phones and internet connections would also be reinstated.

Fearing an angry and potentially violent response to its move to end occupied Kashmir´s autonomous status, India deployed 10,000 additional troops — joining the half a million already there — severely restricted movement and cut telecommunications.

Kashmiri politicians — alongside university professors, business leaders and activists — are among the more than 500 people that have since been taken into custody.

Despite the lockdown, last Friday residents said some 8,000 people took to the streets and that the military used pellet-firing shotguns.