Amid fierce gunfight between militants and Government Forces, South Kashmirs saffron town Pampore resonated with pro-freedom slogans on Monday. Defying restrictions, angry youths staged protests raising pro-Islamic and pro-freedom slogans in different localities of the town while groups of youth pelted stones on men in uniform.
According to the eyewitnesses, groups of youth in Frestbal, Kadlabal, Drangbal and other localities came out on roads and resorted to stone-pelting. The protesters tried to march towards encounter site defying the recently issued advisory prohibiting the movement of people in and around the encounter site.
The protesting youth burnt tyres on road and created bottlenecks to make the police movement difficult. The youth clashed with government forces while in local Masjids, public address systems were used to play Kashmiri patriotic numbers, said a local. Songs praising militants and in favour of Kashmir Freedom Movement surcharged the atmosphere persuading people to come out from their houses. The situation is tense and surcharged. After every gunshot, pro-freedom slogans resonate in air, said another local.
According to a local news agency reporter who was present on the encounter spot said that it was 90s like situation in Pampore. Loud speakers in local Masjids across the town played songs eulogising militants and Freedom Movement.
Reports said that the intense stone-pelting incidents prompted police to burst tear-smoke shells on protesters. The clashes between protesters and government forces left over a dozen people injured, some of them were shifted to local hospital for treatment.
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