Clashes after Friday prayers in Sopore

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 20

Normal life across the Kashmir valley was affected due to a bandh called by separatists while clashes between protesters and the security forces took place at different places after the Friday prayers today.

While the overall situation remained peaceful in the Valley, clashes between protesters and the police took place after the Friday prayers in the Sopore town of Baramulla district in north Kashmir. The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the protesters. However, there were no reports of any injuries in the incident.

The police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed in large numbers at sensitive places here and elsewhere in the Valley to prevent any law and order situation after the Friday prayers. Shops and business establishments were closed and there was very less traffic on the roads. The separatists, in continuation with the fortnightly protest calendar, had called for a bandh after the Friday prayers today.

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was taken into custody and shifted to the Central jail, Srinagar, after the police raided his Maisuma residence here this afternoon.