*SRINAGAR:*
Scores of people mostly Shia Muslims were injured on Saturday when occupation forces dispersed a Muharram procession with pellet guns in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), eye witnesses said.
Nazir Ahmad, an eye witness, said hundreds of mourners were marching near the Hamadania Colony on the outskirts of the capital Srinagar as part of the procession to mark the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
"But some youths shouted pro-freedom slogans. Police charged at us with teargas and pellets.
"Many were injured and some taken to hospital," he said.
Six of the mourners with pellet injuries were brought to the city’s largest Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, Dr Nazir Choudhary, medical superintendent of the hospital, told Anadolu Agency.
“Three have pellet injuries in the eye. Doctors are assessing the severity of their injuries,” he said.
Prominent Shia leader Imran Reza Ansari tweeted: “Want to ask the [Occupied] Jammu and Kashmir Admin if permission was granted for peaceful procession with Covid-19 SOPs why were the mourners of Imam Hussain beaten up brutally.”
He also tweeted a picture of an injured mourner on a hospital bed whose abdomen is covered with blood. -Anadolu Agency