SRINAGAR, July 5: Thousands of protesters clashed with police in occupied Kashmir’s main city on Saturday over allegations that government forces set fire to a shrine, officials said.

Residents alleged that the popular Srinagar shrine, Jenab Sahib, was set on fire by police and the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

“There was a loud sound that was followed by a fire in the shrine,” said Sabzar Ahmed, a local resident.

As the news spread, thousands of people took to streets to protest, chanting anti-India slogans and demanding Kashmir’s freedom from Indian rule.

The protesters attacked a nearby police station, pelting it with stones, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police. Police fired tear gas shells and swung batons to disperse the protesters, he said, adding that at least three paramilitary soldiers were injured.

He denied authorities were involved in damaging the shrine. “These are baseless allegations levelled to foment trouble,” Tripathi said. “In fact, we brought the fire engines to extinguish the fire.”

He said the shrine was only partially damaged and all its holy relics were safe.

Shiv Murari Sahai, Kashmir’s police chief, said authorities were investigating the fire, but that it seemed accidental.

The Kashmir region recently experienced some of the largest anti-India demonstrations in nearly two decades.

The protests began three weeks ago when the state government transferred 99 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust running a Hindu shrine.

Kashmiris denounced the land transfer as an attempt to build Hindu settlements in the area and alter the demographics in the Muslim-majority region.

The state government revoked the order, triggering protests this time in Jammu, a Hindu-majority city of the region.

Shops and businesses remained closed on Saturday in Srinagar and public transport stayed off the roads because of a strike called by Kashmiri leaders alleging that a senior leader was injured by police.

Shabir Ahmed Shah, a leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was injured on Friday while leading a rally in Srinagar. Police said he was hit by stone-pelting protesters, while separatists said he was attacked by security forces with batons.

Kashmiri leaders had called the rally to celebrate the revocation of the land transfer order.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence from India or its merger with neighbouring Pakistan.—AP