Over a dozen hurt in Srinagar’s anti-blasphemy protests

SRINAGAR - Over a dozen people were injured as Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar was Saturday rocked by protests over alleged blasphemous sketches against Islam, police said.

A senior police officer said over a dozen people, including at least four policemen, were injured in the protests.

Heavy police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) reinforcements were moved into the old city and uptown areas after trouble erupted as news about a blasphemous sketch on some garments against Islam spread fast here Saturday morning.

Angry youth, shouting pro-Islam slogans, took to the streets in several localities of the old city and indulged in heavy stone pelting on police and CRPF troopers who intervened to restore order.

As the trouble spread security forces used teargas and batons to disperse the stone pelters who, however, continued to re-group in various localities of the old city.

The trouble later spread to the city centre Lal Chowk and other uptown areas where the police also used batons and teargas.

Shopkeepers in various uptown localities including Lal Chowk downed their shutters and there were no vehicles on the roads.

“The garments in question have been seized and the sketches do not have any similarity to any Muslim place of worship,” a police officer said.

The state authorities have cautioned the general public about rumour mongering by “vested interests who want to disturb the prevailing peace in Kashmir”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit the valley Monday to address the annual convocation of the agriculture university here.

Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has called for a strike Monday to protest against the visit.