Srinagar
Clashes erupted on Monday in Hawal area of Srinagar after the students of Islamia College staged a protest against braid-chopping incidents in the Kashmir valley.
Reports said students of the college staged massive protests against the “failure” of the government to prevent braid-cutting incidents.
Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the protesting students who were pelting stones on them.
Because of the clashes, traffic movement on the road was disrupted.
Meanwhile, protests were also held on Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of Pulwama district.
The protesters blocked the traffic movement on the highway to register protest against braid-chopping incidents.
Later, police reached at the spot and burst tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.
Traffic resumed on the highway after the police action.
Protests also erupted in Sopore town of Baramulla district in northern part of Kashmir after a woman said her braid was chopped off by unknown persons.
A woman of Ningli area of Sopore, in her fifties, said unknown persons chopped off her braid. This is the third such incident in the area in less than twenty-four hours.
Yesterday, two women said their braids were chopped off by unknown persons.
Reports said that youth took to streets and pelted the forces deployed in the town with stones.
They also enforced shutdown in the town by hurling rocks at the shops and vehicles.
Reports of shutdown were also received from Pampore town of Pulwama district in southern Kashmir against the increasing braid-chopping incidents in the Kashmir valley.
Reports said that shops and other business establishments are closed in the town.
Earlier in the day, Kashmir police chief Muneer Ahmad Khan said scientific examination of the braid-cutting victims would be conducted.
“We will collect samples to know what type of sprays have been used on the victims,” Khan told journalists during a news conference in Srinagar.
