Panic spread outside Government Hospital in South Kashmri’s Pulwama district when dozens of masked youth attacked moving vehicles and vendors with stones and sticks during morning hours on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses told news agency CNS that dozens of masked youth suddenly appeared outside government hospital near Muran road and caused massive damage to vehicles that were plying on the roads, however, the vehicles parked outside hospital were spared though few youth according to eyewitnesses caused damage to some of the parked vehicles as well.
“The agitated youth who appeared on the road to enforce shutdown not only thrashed commuters and damaged their vehicles but also beat up vendors. The fruits and other material of vendors were scattered and some of them were roughed up,” they said.
The masked youth fled from the scene shortly before the arrival of the government forces. Witnesses added that scores of youth later on appeared in Muran, Kangan and Mitrigam and targeted moving private vehicles with stones.
Reports from capital city Srinagar said that
scores of youths resorted to intense stone pelting in Srinagar’ Hari Singh High Street on Wednesday evening. Reports said that unknown persons pelted stones and ransacked the material of street vendors. The area was witnessing moderate rush of the street vendors and private transport. “The masked youths, around one dozen persons, started pelting stones which damaged scores of vehicles parked on two sides of road,” eye witnesses said. The youth fled from the spot shortly after the arrival of the police.
Meanwhile locals from Parreypora Jablipora area of Bijbehara town in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district alleged that government forces damaged windowpanes and set rough rice heaps on fire while clashing with stone-pelters. They said that after damaging properties, government forces fired tear-smoke shells that left six people including three women wounded.
(CNS)