35 hurt in IHK clashes over boy's death

SRINAGAR (Agencies) Thirty-five people were hurt Monday in Indian-held Kashmir as police fired shots in the air and used teargas to disperse hundreds of Muslims enraged over the death of a boy, police said. Protesters chanting we want freedom and blood for blood blocked key roads in Srinagar after the 14-year-old was killed by a teargas shell fired by police on Sunday. In Mondays clashes across the city at least 28 protesters and seven policemen were hurt as officers fired shots in the air and swung bamboo truncheons at protesters hurling stones and bricks. Hundreds of mourners gathered at the boys home and later carried his body through the lanes of central Srinagar in a procession led by senior leader Yasin Malik. After the boys funeral, mourners attacked two police stations with bricks and stones, prompting security forces to fire in the air. Police said they had suspended an assistant police sub-inspector who fired the teargas shell. Both factions of the regions main alliance have called for a strike on Tuesday in protest at the boys killing. Kashmiri leaders have held rallies, which often turn violent, regularly since 2008. Kashmir is in the grip of a 20-year uprising against Indian rule that has left more than 47,000 people dead, according to official figures. Anti-India feeling runs deep in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. Violence has significantly dropped in the region but clashes between police and anti-India protesters have increased over the past two years.

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