Hundreds of protesters in Indian-occupied Kashmir clashed with police Friday. 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 Kashmir Valley, the main hotbed of resistance to Indian rule for decades. Major towns and cities in the valley remained under curfew, with government forces allowing people to move only on special passes.
Government forces erected steep barricades and used concertina wires to block roads. No big gatherings were allowed in the valley and most mosques were shut for the second consecutive Friday.
The protesters marched along the lanes of Srinagar, carrying black flags - 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 Kashmir on Friday evening, including in Srinagar.
Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam did not make clear whether mobile phones and internet connections would also be reinstated. He said the restoration would "(keep) in mind the constant threat posed by terrorist organisations".
Fearing an angry and potentially violent response to its move to end 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. The Indian government confirmed the clashes only after several days had passed, blaming them on stone-throwing "miscreants" and saying its forces reacted with "restraint".