Rehearsals trigger protests in Kulgam college

August 15 Celebrations

The Independence Day rehearsals in Government Degree College Kulgam triggered violent protests by students on Wednesday.
Reports said that holding of the rehearsals in college premises angered the students and they held protest demonstrations.
Police used force to quell the enraged students and the protests soon spread to the town, eyewitnesses said. They said that police resorted to baton charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the students who in return pelted stones.
The students shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans also enforced a shutdown in the town, eyewitnesses said. Reports said that many students were detained but were released later.
Reports said that police had brought in students from various schools of the district to rehearse for the cultural events to be performed during the Independence Day function.
The students of the college, however, objected to it and were demanding that the college campus be left free for academic activities.
The holding of the rehearsal resulted in altercation between students and police and soon triggered clashes, eyewitnesses said.
They said that the school students who had come for the rehearsal later left the college.
Police, however, refuted the claims that the students were protesting against the Independence Day rehearsal.
“The students had certain issues with the administration and the matter should have been resolved without the intervention of police,” said a police official.
However, college administration maintained that the students were protesting because of disturbance in their class work due to the rehearsal.