Students clash with security forces in Sopore

Students in north Kashmir's Sopore town today clashed with law enforcing agencies, protesting against the arrest of their peers by the police over the past three weeks.
Students of some educational institutions, including the local government college in Sopore, 52 km from here, held protests in their respective college premises, a police official said.
He said the students, however, tried to march on the roads, prompting the law enforcing agencies to swing into action.
The police used batons and tear gas shells to disperse the protestors who resorted to stone-pelting, the official said.
He said clashes were going on when reports last came in, he said, adding that at least 10 persons were hurt in the clashes.

A police raid on Government Degree College in Pulwama on April 15 had triggered widespread protests by students across Kashmir on April 17 which have been going on intermittently since then.

Authorities had suspended class work in the higher educational institutions for over a week last month as a precautionary measure.
The students were agitating over the alleged high- handedness of security forces and demanding action against those who roughed up students.
A number of students were arrested during clashes in Srinagar and elsewhere in the valley.