India News | Police Fire Teargas Shells to Foil Shia Processions to Mark Eighth Day of Muharram Mourning Period

Srinagar, Aug 17 (PTI) Police on Tuesday fired teargas shells to foil processions by members of the Shia community here to mark the eighth day of the 10-day Muharram mourning period, officials said.

Several members of the community were detained at various places in the city, they said.

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The officials said a huge number of Shia mourners tried to take out a procession in Dalgate area of the city here. They were asked by the police to disperse, but they refused and tried to march on.

The police had to resort to baton charging and firing of teargas shells to disperse them, the officials said, adding, however, there were no reports of any injuries.

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The police also fired some teargas shells in Jehangir Chowk area of the city to disperse the Shia mourners.

A few members of the community tried to take out processions at a few other places, but were barred by the police and some of them were later detained.

Heavy deployment of police and security forces was made in areas where there were apprehensions about the processions taking place, they said.

While the police said there were no restrictions anywhere in the city, barricades were put up at many places here to stop the mourners from taking out processions.

The traditional Muharram procession, to mark the eighth day of the 10-day Muharram mourning period, used to pass through the areas of Abi Guzar, Lal Chowk and Dalgate areas, but has been banned since the eruption of militancy in 1990 as authorities maintain that the religious gathering has been used for propagating separatist politics.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the police respects religious sentiments of the public, but at the same time, it is their joint responsibility to defeat the ill designs of vested interests who try to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.

"We #respect the religious #sentiments and practices of all but at the same time it is also our joint #responsibility to defeat the ill designs of vested interest who try to disturb #peaceful atmosphere," the Kashmir Zone Police quoted the IGP as having said in its official Twitter handle.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)