MUZAFFARABAD (Agencies): Following a successful crackdown on the people protesting against inflated electricity bills in other cities of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), police in capital Muzaffarabad, too, came down hard on the protestors on Saturday as they baton-charged and teargassed them, turning Azadi Chowk into a battlefield.
The police even removed the sit-in camp of the Awami Action Committee. Police also arrested Faisal Jameel Kashmiri from the protest site. However, DSP Ishtiaq Geelani was injured when he was pelted with a stone by a mob. Earlier, the police had managed to disperse the sit-ins in cities like Rawalakot, Bagh and Kotli.
After an indiscriminate police action, thousands of people came out on roads and marched towards the Central Press Club via Medina Market and Lal Chowk to show their solidarity with the Awami Action Committee.
They shouted slogans against the police brutality and in support of the committee. Traders, too, shut down their shops to register their protest. Led by Anjuman-e-Tajiran Central Chairman Shaukat Nawaz Mir, they marched towards the Azadi Chowk in the form of a rally.
