Police on Saturday foiled attempts by Hurriyat activists to stage a sit-in to protest alleged human rights violations by placing chairman of the amalgam Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest and detaining around 45 of his supporters here.
Hurriyat had called for a silent sit-in at Pratap Park in the heart of the city to express solidarity with Kashmiri prisoners and to protest alleged rights violations in the State.
However, police and paramilitary troops sealed Pratap Park from all the four corners on Saturday morning to thwart the attempt of Hurriyat activists to enter the park and stage the sit-in.
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At least 25 activists of Hurriyat Conference including executive member Masoor Abbas Ansari and chairperson of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, Yasmeen Raja, were detained by police at Lal Chowk when they tried to lead a procession from Court Road to Pratap Park, official sources said.
Hurriyat activists assembled at Court Road and tried to march towards Pratap Park when police intercepted them at Lal Chowk and asked to disperse. When they refused, police used batons to disperse them and took 25 of them including Mr. Ansari and Mr. Raja into preventive custody and lodged them in Khotibagh police station, the sources said.
Within minutes, another group of Hurriyat activists emerged and started shouting slogans but police took them into preventive custody.
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Another group assembled at Residency Road and tried to enter Pratap Park but were bundled by police into a waiting vehicle and taken to police station, the sources said.
The Mirwaiz, who was placed under house arrest on Friday following a strike called by separatists to protest the death sentence given to two Kashmiris in the Lajpat Nagar blast case, was not allowed to move out of his house for the second successive day on Saturday, the sources said.