Kashmir protests Saddam hanging, 2O hurt
Source: Reuters
(Adds casualty figure, quotes) SRINAGAR, India, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse hundreds of protesters in Indian Kashmir's main city and other towns on Friday in a second day of demonstrations over the execution of Saddam Hussein. "About 20 people including two policemen were injured in the clashes," said a police official. Shops and markets were closed in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar and other towns of the Sunni Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley. Protesters took to streets near the city's main mosque after Friday prayers and pelted police with stones. Earlier in the day Muslims took to the streets chanting "Down with Bush" and burnt a U.S. flag and an effigy of the President George W. Bush. "This is a barbaric incident," businessman Imtiyaz Ahmad said of the hanging of the former Iraqi leader. "Americans have humiliated Sunni Muslims and we should strongly protest." At least nine people were hurt on Thursday when officers used tear gas to disperse a mob. The former Iraqi leader's execution also sparked sporadic protests in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where authorities said on Friday they were investigating an attack on tourists by groups of Muslim protesters the day before. The protesters pelted a tourist bus with stones in the Taj Mahal town of Agra, wounding some. The tourists were from India's southern state of Goa which has a sizeable Christian population. "The Agra police were trying to identify the culprits and suitable action will be taken against them," an official spokesman told Reuters in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims in Ranchi, capital of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, marched through the streets and shouted slogans against the U.S. President.
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