A number of upmarket areas in the heart of Srinagar city virtually turned into a battleground today as students again clashed with security forces and resorted to stone pelting, after colleges reopened in Kashmir following a five-day shutdown ordered by the government.
Students of the S P College assembled on the Maulana Azad Road and started pelting stones on security forces causing blockade of one of the busiest roads in Srinagar.
Police had to fire dozens of tear smoke shells in an attempt to disperse the stone-pelting students from S P College and the adjoining Women's College on M A Road, officials said.
They said the clashes emanated from S P College and soon spread to the streets of Regal Chowk and adjoining areas.
The students from the Women's College also joined the protests, which spread to other parts of the commercial hub, the officials said.
The cops also fired a couple of aerial shots but it was not clear whether live ammunition or rubber bullets were used.
Sporadic clashes continued as security forces tried to restore traffic on the highway.
The clashes led to closure of the markets and the people rushed to safer locations out of the commercial hub, the officials said.
The violence was witnessed on a day the colleges reopened in the valley after a gap of five days.
The authorities had shut the higher educational institutions as a precautionary measure in the wake of widespread violence by the students in Kashmir last week against the alleged high handedness of security forces with students in Pulwama on April 15.
The student protests erupted after security forces entered a college in south Kashmir's Pulwama town on April 12.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
She said that PM appears amenable to holding talks with stake holders in a bid to arrest the deteriorating situation in the Valley.
However, she cautioned, that "an atmosphere needs to be created" for a dialogue.
"Talks cannot happen amid stone pelting and firing of bullets," she told reporters after a 20-minute meeting with the Prime Minister.
(With agencies)
