SRINAGAR, July 13: Police fired live ammunition in the air and used tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters who attacked pro-Indian political activists during a memorial ceremony on Sunday in occupied Srinagar, police said.

Several thousand protesters chanted slogans and threw stones at activists from the National Conference, the region’s largest pro-Indian political party, in a bid to prevent them and other pro-Indian activists from holding a ceremony in the Martyr’s Graveyard.

July 13 is observed as “Martyr’s Day” in occupied Kashmir, and traditionally both anti- and pro-Indian Kashmiris commemorate the day in 1931 when the disputed region’s king ordered 21 Muslims executed in a bid to put down an uprising.

On Sunday, the pro-India supporters responded by throwing stones back at anti-Indian activists and police stepped in, firing bullets in the air and tear gas canisters in a bid to separate the two factions, said Kuldeep Khoda, the state police chief.

One news photographer was injured during the clashes, said Bashir Ahmed, a senior police officer, adding that police had no reports of injuries to protesters. However, an Associated Press photographer at the scene saw at least four injured protesters.“We’ll not stop anybody visiting Martyr’s Graveyard to offer homage, but we’ll not allow anyone to disrupt the order,” Khoda said.

The fresh protests come just weeks after the disputed region saw its largest anti-India demonstrations in two decades, amid fears that land transferred to a Hindu shrine would be used for Hindu settlements and change the demographic balance in the Muslim-majority state.

Later on Sunday, thousands of separatist supporters marched peacefully to the graveyard after prayers.

Led by politicians from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, they chanted: “We want freedom!” and “Long live Pakistan!” and waved green flags.

“It’s time for Indian forces to leave Kashmir,” Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, one of the leaders, told the protesters at the graveyard.—AP