Srinagar, March 5 Normal life in Kashmir was disrupted for the fifth consecutive day as partial restrictions on the movement of people remained in place as a precautionary measure.
The restrictions were imposed on Monday after spontaneous protests erupted across Kashmir a day earlier against the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint US-Israeli strike.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah held a meeting with representatives of civil society and religious leaders on Wednesday as part of efforts to restore normalcy.
After the meeting, Abdullah appealed to people to maintain peace while expressing grief and anger in "mosques, shrines, and Imambaras".
The government has closed educational institutions until Saturday and reduced mobile internet speeds.
"Restrictions on the movement and assembly of people continued in many parts of Kashmir on Thursday," officials said.
A large number of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed across the city to prevent gatherings of protesters, officials said.
They added that concertina wire and barricades were placed at important intersections leading into the city, while asserting that these were precautionary measures imposed to maintain law and order.
The iconic Ghanta Ghar in the city centre of Lal Chowk here continued to remain a no-go zone after authorities sealed the area with barricades erected around it late Sunday night.
The move to seal the Ghanta Ghar came after it witnessed massive protests on Sunday following Khamenei's assassination in the joint air strikes by the US and Israel.
This is the first time since August 2019 – when Article 370 was revoked – that protests of this scale have taken place in Kashmir.
