SRINAGAR, Dec 28: Police in Indian occupied Kashmir clashed on Friday with hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators protesting the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, police said.

Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who took to the streets in Srinagar before Friday prayers, said police officer Sajjad Ahmed. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The protesters hurled rocks at police and chanted “We want freedom” and “Long live Pakistan” when police tried to stop them from holding a demonstration.

Many in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region want independence from India or a union with mainly Pakistan.

Police had been on alert, setting up extra checkpoints in the region, fearing disturbances after the region’s main separatist alliance called a strike to protest the killing.

Ms Bhutto, a former two-time prime minister of Pakistan, was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi just 10 weeks after she returned to her homeland from eight years in exile.

“We’re shattered to hear this tragic news. This is a barbaric act of terrorism,” said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a separatist leader.

“We strongly feel that it’s a conspiracy to weaken Pakistan. In this hour of grief we pray for Pakistan’s stability.”—AP