Srinagar: Scores of youths Tuesday walked through busy markets shouting slogans to denounce the Israeli bombing of Gaza that have killed nearly 190 Palestinians, officials and witnesses said.
Although schools and colleges were shut in the Kashmir Valley Tuesday for a 15-day summer recess, the young from the city took to the streets.
The demonstrators passed through the city centre Lal Chowk and other parts of Srinagar. Police and the Central Reserve Police Force were deployed on the streets in riot gear.
The protests were peaceful. The markets and other businesses functioned normally too.
Police had exercised maximum restraint also Monday when a larger number of students, lawyers and even government employees protested against the Israeli attacks.
Prominent leaders in the Kashmir Valley, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, have condemned Israel’s bombings in Gaza.
A Day before, around 40 university students, including some Left activists, were detained after a protest  at the Israeli embassy here against air strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip, police said.
The students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were detained after they marched towards the embassy on Aurangzeb Road and broke barricades on their way around noon.
They were taken to the Tughlak Road Police station in buses.
Kavita Krishnan, a Left member, told IANS that police personnel dragged the women activists who were protesting peacefully.
“A policewomen hit me on the face with a helmet while I was raising slogans,” said Krishnan.
Police said the activists were put under preventive detention and later allowed to go.
“We had already told the activists Sunday not to protest at such a high-security zone as it is not allowed,” a police official told IANS.
Since July 8, Israel has been engaged in a large-scale aerial operation on the Gaza Strip. Israel says it is targeting the Hamas and other militant groups in the coastal enclave.
The Gaza-based health ministry said the operation has killed at least 187 people, wounded 1,390 and destroyed more than 250 houses.