SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Indian forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas Saturday as thousands of people carried the body of a 12-year-old boy killed overnight during an anti-India protest in the main city of the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
Chanting “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom,” thousands of residents marched to the main Martyr’s Graveyard in Srinagar for the boy’s burial. Police and paramilitary soldiers fired warning shots, pellets and tear gas, fearing the procession could become a larger rally calling for an end to Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region, said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.
Some tear gas shells landed near the mourners carrying the body, which was draped in a Pakistani flag with pro-freedom slogans written on it.
Clashes broke out as hundreds of young men hurled rocks at the troops while another group of mourners changed route to bury the dead. Clashes also spread to at least four other neighborhoods in downtown Srinagar, with scores reported injured.
The boy was critically injured Friday evening after he was hit by shotgun pellets all over his body. He died at a hospital overnight.