SRINAGAR, India: Authorities in India enforced security restrictions in two main districts in the remote Ladakh region on Thursday (Sep 25), a day after four people were killed and dozens injured when police clashed with hundreds of protesters demanding greater autonomy from the Indian government for the Himalayan territory.
Officials banned assembly of more than five people in Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil districts following the violent clashes Wednesday. Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled streets Thursday while shops and businesses remained shut due to the restrictions.
Wednesday’s clashes erupted after protesters threw stones at officers trying to stop them from marching in the high-altitude town of Leh. Others set ablaze police and paramilitary vehicles and the local office of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and some other government buildings, police said.
Police fired bullets and tear gas and swung batons at demonstrators, killing four people and injuring dozens more, police and residents said.
Nestled between India, Pakistan and China, Ladakh was split from Indian-controlled Kashmir after New Delhi removed the disputed region’s statehood and semiautonomy in 2019. While Kashmir has largely been silenced through a crackdown on dissent and a slew of new laws, demands for political rights in Ladakh have intensified in recent years.
The protests are part of a larger movement in the federally governed region seeking statehood and constitutional provisions from the Indian government to gain autonomy over land and agriculture decisions.
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