Fifteen civilians were injured in clashes in South Kashmir’s Anantnag town during a protest demanding justice for the eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Kathua district in January, the Greater Kashmir reported. Shops and other businesses shut down amid the violence.

The medical superintendent of Anantnag District Hospital Dr Majid Mirab told Kashmir News Service 15 injured have been admitted, so far.

The police said the protest, which was organised with permission from the police and district administration, remained peaceful till “some miscreants indulged in stone pelting”. It turned violent after some of these protestors tried to enforce a shutdown in Anantnag town, the police said, adding that two officers and two civilians were injured during the stone pelting.

According to the Greater Kashmir report, the police used tear gas shells and baton charged the protestors. The protestors were students of the Government Degree College, who marched to KP Road shouting slogans and holding up banners, Kashmir Reader reported.

Clashes were also reported in Tral, where students of Government Degree College protested outside the campus for the child raped and killed in Kathua. Authorities reportedly used force to quell the protests, which then led to clashes between the students and security forces.