Protests erupt in Kashmir over Indian push to end autonomy

SRINAGAR, India — Protesters gathered by the thousands after Friday prayers and set off from a mosque in the Kashmiri capital of Srinagar, chanting slogans about freedom. Security forces told them to turn back, but they refused and sat down in the road, six eyewitnesses said. Not long after, the firing began.

The protest — in which at least eight people were injured from shotgun pellet injuries — was one of the largest displays of public anger against India’s abrupt move this week to strip Kashmir of its autonomy and statehood. The step plunged Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region,