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Srinagar: Troops in Kashmir used metal barricades and barbed wire to seal off residential areas and extended a curfew on Monday across the region, effectively thwarting a planned pro-separatist rally.
Tens of thousands of policemen and soldiers in riot gear patrolled deserted streets in the Himalayan region and used loudspeakers to warn residents to stay indoors.
Over the past two months Kashmir has seen some of the biggest anti-India demonstrations since a separatist revolt against New Delhi's rule broke out in the region in 1989. Separatists had planned a huge anti-India rally in Lal Chowk, the historic centre of Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar.
"We condemn use of force and appeal to people to continue peaceful protests against Indian occupation," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of region's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
Farooq has been placed under house arrest since Sunday and Yasin Malek, another senior separatist leader who has led a series of anti-India demonstrations in the past two months, was detained by police on Saturday night.
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