Amid shutdown: Clashes erupt in Srinagar over Charlie Hebdo cartoons

Indian authorities had imposed restrictions on the movement of people to prevent protests

SRINAGAR:

Clashes between protesters and police erupted in Srinagar after Friday prayers amid a general shutdown called over the publication of blasphemous cartoons in a French satirical weekly.

The closure of shops and businesses was ordered by a leading Muslim organisation and several separatist groups to protest the caricatures in Charlie Hebdo whose offices were attacked on January 7. Most businesses remained closed and the roads were virtually empty in Srinagar and other towns in Indian-administered Kashmir, according to reports.

Authorities imposed restrictions on the movement of people in some areas of the congested old town to prevent protests after Friday prayers.

The clashes broke out when police fired smoke canisters and shot into the air to disperse a group of protesters who began shouting ‘Down with Charlie Hebdo’ after emerging from mosques. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Similar protests have been seen in many other parts of the Muslim world since Charlie Hebdo printed the cartoons. Security forces are on a heightened alert across India as the country prepares to welcome US President Barack Obama for its Republic Day celebrations on Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.