(AFP) SRINAGAR, India — Indian police and Muslim protesters clashed for the second day running Tuesday over the death of a Muslim boy killed by a police tear-gas shell in revolt-hit Kashmir.
Police said at least 14 policemen and 16 protesters were hurt during violence in Srinagar, one of several Muslim-majority towns shut down by a strike called by separatists to protest against the boy’s killing.
Wamiq Farooq died on Sunday after being struck by a shell fired by police to quell a demonstration by separatists.
On Tuesday hundreds of protesters, many of then masked, used burning tyres to block roads across the city.
“The strike is to protest against the boy’s killing and human rights violations by Indian troops in general,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a moderate separatist leader, told AFP.
Police said they had suspended an officer who fired the shell.
Angry protesters chanting “we want freedom” and “Allah is great” also took to the streets in the towns of Anantnag and Pulwama in south, and Baramulla and Sopore in the north, police and witnesses said.
Police fired in air, used tear-gas and swung batons to disperse the protesters in Srinagar and other towns.
Witnesses said Wamiq had gone out to play cricket and was not among the protesters who clashed with police on Sunday.
Kashmiri separatists have regularly held rallies, which often turn violent, since 2008. More than 60 protesters have died since, most of them during firing by the police.
The region is in the grip of a 20-year insurgency against Indian rule.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hMu6sckdzi_jGVY6fblcCgbjdn2g