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Students clash with police over hoisting of tricolor in Anantnag college

Last Updated 23 August 2017, 12:02 IST
Clashes erupted between students and security forces at the Anantnag degree college in south Kashmir on Wednesday after police hoist tricolour during a sports event in the campus.

Reports said that the hoisting of national flag infuriated the students who objected the move. An eye witness said that the protesting students set ablaze a tent and also pelted police with stones who fired tear-gas canisters to disperse them.

There were no reports of anyone getting injured in the incident. Police had organised a sports festival for the students at the degree college and it was scheduled to be inaugurated by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police south Kashmir range at 3.30 PM. However, after the incident the event was delayed and is expected to be held later in the evening, a police officer said.

The college principal in-charge AM Dar said the students became violent soon after the event began and set fire to the stage and tents. However, he dismissed the rumours that the students had burnt the tricolour during the clashes. Videos of the incident, which had students setting hoardings and banners ablaze, went viral on the social media.

Earlier, students in uniforms clashed with security forces across for weeks together after police raided a college in the southern town of Pulwama on April 15. More than 200 students were injured in the subsequent clashes which also saw school girls throw stones at security forces. After J&K government failed to contain the protests, colleges and higher secondary schools were closed for weeks together.

The April clashes reportedly started when some army officers entered Degree College Pulwama premises in an armoured vehicle for a “meeting” with the college administration. The next day police set up barriers outside the college to prevent a clash but students thought the barricading was done to identify those who had thrown stones at the army.

To cash in on the anger, the banned Kashmir Students Union on April 15 started mobilising its members in various colleges for a protest against alleged police brutality. Within a few days time, the clashes spread across the Valley.



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(Published 23 August 2017, 12:01 IST)

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