Security forces resorted to firing of tear gas shells and pellets after intense clashes broke out between students and forces at Islamia College Hawal in old Srinagar on Monday after students protested against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Three scribes were also allegedly thrashed by the police at Hawal.Witnesses said that massive protests rocked Hawal after 50 to 60 students of Islamia College Hawal staged a protest first and then resorted to stone pelting. The protesting slogans were raising slogans against CAA.
According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), there have been a series of protests across the country against the CAA. Many students were also thrashed by the police at Jamia Milia Islamia and Jawahar Lal Nehru University at New Delhi. Protests against CAA were also reported from other parts of the country.Police said at 12 noon, there was a stone pelting by a group of students at Islamia College. “We used a very mild force against the protesting students and locked the entrance gate and informed the College administration to ensure students doesn’t resort to stone pelting. “The school administration succeeded to some extent but some students continued to pelt security forces with the stones,” a top police officer told KNO.He said that after using mild force, they succeeded in bringing the situation to normal as road for the traffic had got closed for some time and people were stuck in vehicles. Three scribes, who were covering the protests—Hakeem Irfan who works for Economic Times, Azaan Javaid who writes for the The Print and Anees Zargar, a freelance journalist.“We were recording the video as police were detaining three students. Perhaps, our action irked the cops and they started thrashing us without any justification. My phone was also snatched by the police without any reason,” Azaan told KNO.The top police officer, however, said that there was no intention to beat or thrash any journalist. “The fact is that they had got mixed up with the stone pelters making it difficult for us to identity them. They were not wearing any tag or any press identification mark.Police has nothing personal against media men,” he stressed. Meanwhile, press fraternity has called for a protest against police action at press club on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar said that let the aggrieved journalist approach him with a complaint. “If there is any misconduct by any cop, I assure action. We are a very disciplined force,” he said. (KNO)