Dozens injured in clashes near Jamia Masjid

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 25

Nearly two dozen people were injured on Friday as youth clashed with the police outside Jamia Masjid here.

Local residents and eyewitnesses said the police fired pellets resulting in injuries to men and women.

The eyewitnesses said nearly two dozen people were hit by pellets and blood stained the mosque’s floor as desperate announcements were made from the mosque’s public address system asking the police to stop the firing of pellets.

The police also fired tear smokes shells to disperse the youth who were attempting to hold a demonstration. The eyewitnesses said worshippers, local shopkeepers and youth were injured in the incident.

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who delivers a weekly sermon at Jamia Masjid, blamed the “heavy deployment of government forces” around the mosque for “tension and agitation”.

He said “dozens of civilians” were injured after the police resorted to firing of pellets and teargas shelling. A large number of people were unable to come out of the mosque, Mirwaiz said.

Superintendent of Police, North City, Sajad Shah, said 600 to 700 protesters threw stones at the deployment of security forces in which more than a dozen personnel, including a local officer, were injured. “The police chased them and they went inside the mosque,” the police officer said.

He said a dozen civilian and protesters received “minor injuries” in the police action.