Police fired tear gas to disperse nearly 200 protesters who threw rocks at them during a strike called by a pro-Pakistan separatist group Saturday to protest the Indian president's visit to India's portion of Kashmir, a paramilitary officer said.
One policeman received minor injuries in the clash near the grand mosque in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.
The protesters chanted, "Long live Pakistan" and "Indian troops go back."
Separatist groups and armed militants oppose India's rule in Kashmir and demand the Himalayan territory's independence or merger with Pakistan, a mostly Muslim nation. Jammu-Kashmir is predominantly Hindu India's only Muslim-majority state.
Most shops, businesses and schools were closed for the day Saturday during the strike, supported by Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, the main armed rebel group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
President Pratibha Patil began a five-day visit to the region Friday by meeting soldiers posted close to India's highly militarized de facto frontier with Pakistan.
"We want to convey to the Indian president that Kashmiri people are against Indian occupation of Kashmir," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chief of the hard-line faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella group of political and religious organizations.
Soldiers tightened security by setting up checkpoints at street crossings, while police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled the area to prevent protests.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim all of it. The rivals have fought two wars over control of the territory since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
More than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
