The local people alleged that he was thrown into the river by police after he was beaten. However, the police said they are investigating the matter. It seems the boy jumped into the river as a police truck was moving in the area.
Soon after the incident, thousands of people took to streets and held demonstration. They threw stones at the police and CRPF, who fired several rounds in the air, burst smoke shells and resorted to cane charge. The boy’s body could not be recovered from the river.
Reports of protests were also received from some other areas, including Sopore, old city of Srinagar and South Kashmir in the evening. The hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference, which had asked the people to resume their work on Saturday till 2 pm, had called for protests in the afternoon.
Earlier, after a gap of 13 days, Kashmir wore an entirely different look on Saturday with markets flooding with people, who resumed their normal work. The normalcy temporarily returned after the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference asked people to resume their work for a day.
Normal life remained paralysed for 13 days in the Valley due to curfew and strike over the killing of civilians in police and security forces firing.
On Saturday morning, shops, other business establishments, government offices and educational institutions reopened. Transport plied on roads as usual. The people were seen making purchases on a large scale as the Hurriyat-sponsored week-long strike and protests starts again from Sunday. There was tremendous rush at the banks and ATM centres.
“During the days of curfew and strike, I had exhausted all money and badly needed cash as we do not know which turn the situation would take during the next days of strike and protests,” said Abdul Hamid, a customer at a bank.