Outsiders' bid to hoist Tricolour at Lal Chowk turns ugly: Police

A bid by a group of six "outsiders" to unfurl the Tricolour at the Lal Chowk city centre here on the eve of Independence Day turned ugly with some local residents objecting to the flag hoisting and trying to rough up three of them, the police said today.

The trio caught in a spat with the local residents over their flag hoisting bid had to be rescued by the police.

As the group, apparently from outside Srinagar, sought to hoist the flag at the historic Ghantaghar (Clock Tower) at Lal Chowk, the local people assembled there and began raising slogans objecting to the flag-hoisting, the police said.

Sensing the aggressiveness of the crowd, three persons of the group fled the spot while the three others were caught in an argument with the local residents.

The police, however, intervened in time and before the three could be roughed up, the police whisked them away, said an official.

The three were later let off, the official said.