Clashes in Srinagar after Friday prayers

SRINAGAR: Police fired teargas shells as protesters took to streets after the Friday prayers and pelted stones on security personnel in Jamia Masjid and adjoining localities in interior city.

The clashes erupted today when groups of youth, some of whom wore masks and carried Pakistani flags and objectionable posters, gathered on the main road outside Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta and set ablaze a BJP flag, officials said.

Chanting slogans against the killing of engineering student Gowhar Ahmad Dar during a protest on Saturday, the youths indulged in stone-pelting on police and paramilitary forces, the officials said.

The security personnel responded by firing teargas shells, leading to intense clashes between the two sides, the officials said, adding no one was hurt in the incident.

Later, the clashes spread to adjoining Gojwara, Naqashband Sahib and Saraf Kadal.

Dar, a resident of Zainakote locality of the city, was killed when he was hit by a teargas shell during a protest demonstration outside his house in the outskirts of the city on Saturday - the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally in the city and announced a Rs 80,000 crore package for the development of the state.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for peaceful protests after Friday prayers against the killing of Dar.