Tens of thousands continue protest against transfer of land to Hindu shrine

Описание: (27 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide top shot of protesters marching
2. Various of protesters chanting pro-freedom slogans and waving flags
3. Various of protesters waving Islamic flags from clock tower
4. Tracking shot of crowd chanting and waving their arms
5. Crowd burn an effigy of an Indian leader
6. Women chanting and clapping their hands
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yusuf Khan, protester:
"Leaders should demand complete demilitarisation from the Kashmir because Kashmir is an integral part of Pakistan and we believe that India should leave immediately. Otherwise, the youths come back on the streets with the guns."
8. Low angle of protesters chanting slogans
9. Wide of protesters burning party flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
10. Various of paramilitary station set on fire by protesters
11. Wide of protesters marching down street
STORYLINE
Street protests continued for a fifth day in Indian-administered Kashmir on Friday as thousands vented their anger over the transfer of land to a Hindu shrine in this Muslim-majority region.
Some protesters climbed to the top of the main clock tower in Srinagar and waved green flags while chanting pro-independence slogans.
They also clashed with riot police in several parts of the city, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir forcing them to fire tear gas shells, said a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force.
Police also said there were reports of protests from all across India's Jammu-Kashmir state.
However, no injuries were reported so far on Friday.
Three people have died and dozens injured since Monday as police have struggled to control angry mobs protesting against the transfer of 99 acres (40 hectares) of land by the state government to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, a trust running a popular Hindu shrine.
Protesters accuse the Indian government of planning to build Hindu settlements in India's only Muslim majority state in order to change the demographic balance in the region.
Protester,Yusuf Khan, warned of further demonstrations in the future.
"Leaders should demand complete demilitarisation from the Kashmir because Kashmir is an integral part of Pakistan and we believe that India should leave immediately. Otherwise, the youths come back on the streets with the guns," he said.
Anti-India sentiment is strong in Kashmir, where nearly a dozen militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with neighbouring Pakistan, but this week's protests are among the angriest displays of public resentment in two decades.
Across the state on Friday, shops and offices remained closed and public transport stayed off the roads as protesters chanting anti-India slogans converged on the roads.
Protesters in Srinagar, the region's main city, also burnt effigies of local Kashmiri politicians and Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, the chief minister of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, has tried to ease the tension by promising on Wednesday that there would be no construction on the transferred land and pledging to meet with the state's political parties to address the protesters' grievances.
The Amarnath shrine is a cave that housed a large icicle revered by Hindus as an incarnation of the Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and regeneration.
Hundreds of thousands of Hindus, who consider the cave sacred, are currently on an annual pilgrimage to visit the cave.
The protests come as Pakistan's foreign minister said on Friday his government was eager to find a solution at next month's peace talks to the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which has been at the heart of the bitter

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