Anti-Islam film: Protests disrupt normal life in Kashmir

Life in Kashmir valley was on Tuesday crippled by a protest shutdown against the controversial anti-Islam video.

The shutdown called by an amalgam of various religious organisations and local traders was supported by various separatist groups and the Kashmir bar association.

...

Kashmir valley has been tense and witnessing daily protests since Friday when hard-line separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani had called for peaceful protests against the film.

Protests erupted in parts of summer capital Srinagar and other towns on Tuesday morning even as authorities made elaborate security arrangements across the valley.

...

Police and paramilitary, central reserve police force (CRPF) troops in strength have been deployed in capital city and other towns to deal with any situation.

Hundreds of people shouting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans marched on the streets in capital Srinagar and later torched an American flag.

An effigy of US president Barrack Obama was also set ablaze in the city where protestors burnt tyres on the streets in the old city.

...

Angry protestors indulged in stone pelting in north Kashmir's Baramulla town where security has been tightened.

Tuesday's strike shut businesses, educational institutions and public transport while skeletal private transport plied on the streets.

...