Police break up Kashmir protest

By Altaf Hussain
BBC correspondent in Srinagar

Police commandeered buses to take away protesters

Police have fired tear-gas and baton-charged demonstrators protesting against Indian rule in Kashmir.

More than 500 people marched on World Human Rights Day in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

More than 200 protesters, representing a faction of the main separatist All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), were taken into custody.

A further 60 were held earlier during a march against alleged human rights violations by Indian forces.

House arrest

The main procession included a large number of women carrying pictures of a 10-year-old girl they say was raped by an officer of the Indian army in the border town of Handwara last month.

Prominent leaders of the APHC Geelani faction, Sheikh Aziz, Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi and Nayeem Khan, were among those taken into custody.

Police commandeered buses to take the protesters to detention centres.

The chairman of Geelani faction, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and head of the Democratic Freedom Party, Shabir Shah, were kept under house arrest from Friday morning.