Srinagar/May,1: Police used tear-smoke shells to disperse students who were protesting against the detention of their peers in South Kahsmir’s Pulwama district.
Student protests are refusing to die down in the district in wake of ‘assault and arrest’ of the students.
Witnesses said that students of Mehjoor Memorial School (MMS) early morning after boycotting the class work assembled in the premises of the school and staged massive pro-freedom protest. They were demanding the release of their peers. The protesting students said more than 15 students have been in police lock-up from past many days while police is in no mood to release them.
The protesting students carried out a march and amid pro-freedom slogans demanded the release of the arrested students. The protesting students later on assembled outside police station amid slogans. Carrying banners and flags they also marched towards Degree College Pulwama. Witnesses said that police closed the main gate of the police station and fired tear-smoke shells and pava grenades from the second floor of the police station. Later on cops in police vehicles also resorted to shelling. The agitated students resorted to massive stone-pelting.
The clashes between students and the government forces sparked spontaneous shutdown while vehicular movement was also disrupted.
Witnesses said that a large number of students waved Hizb commander Burhan Wani’s photographs in the premises of Degree College Pulwama. Popular Hizb commander Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with Government Forces in South Kashmir on 8 July, 2016. His killings had put Kashmir on boil for months together.
Pulwama is on the edge from past month. In the month of April the district witnessed a shutdown of 22 days against the arrest spree and assault on the students.