National Conference takes out protest march against Jammu and Kashmir government in Jammu

Jammu: Opposition National Conference workers today took out a protest rally against the PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, breaking police barricades and braving baton charge to reach the Civil Secretariat here.

The large number of protesters is “reflection of the growing disenchantment over collapse of administrative edifice”, party’s provincial president Devender Singh Rana, who led the protest, claimed.

Singh said the PDP-BJP government, which completed 100 days last week, had already created a mess.

“What looks like a subtle resistance can become a volcano if the government goes ahead with its dangerous policies,” he warned.

The rally took off from party’s provincial headquarters at Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here and crossed through Residency Road, Raghunath Bazar, city chowk and Shalimar belts.

A posse of police personnel was deployed outside the Secretariat in view of the march. The police put up barricades at the entrances.

The protesters shouted anti-government slogans and carried placards, accusing the government of failing on development front and jeopardizing peace and normalcy in the state.

They crossed several barricades and gave tough time to security personnel to deal with them before they were stopped in front of the Secretariat’s gate.

Police said they exercised maximum restraint when the protesters tried to cross the barricades.

PTI