Srinagar: To participate in the 8th Muharram procession hundreds of Shitte mourners defied the restrictions in Srinagar and managed to reach Jahangir chowk from Shaheed Gund in a procession on Thursday.
Police and paramilitary forces used dozens of tear gas shells to disperse Shiite mourners.
Kashmir police chief SJM Gillani on Wednesday had said “we won’t allow Muharram procession for the security reasons.”
Since Thursday morning all routes leading to city centre Lal Chowk were blocked by drop gates, concertina wires to prevent Shiite processions and protests over the death of a Kashmiri trucker killed in Udhampur petrol bomb attack.
The restrictions placed by authorities in Srinagar has hampered the public movement and put large number of people especially patients at great inconvenience.
The Shiite take two procession-one on 8th Muharram and the second on 10th Moharram (Ashura) to mark the martyrdom of Hussain Ibn Ali and his companions in Karbala in the year 680.
However in Kashmir, Muharram processions remain banned by the government since 1989.
The ban has been protested by the Shiite, calling it a religious infringement by the authorities.
Only small mourning processions are allowed in selected areas with Shiite populations.