Srinagar,
Members of several separatist groups held a protest on Saturday at Jamia Masjid here while Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik, who was on way to the protest venue, was detained by the police.

The protest was called by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of three key separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik.

The demonstrators held placards and raised slogans to press for their demands which included “stopping atrocities against students” and “repealing of black laws”.

The separatists had called the protest to demonstrate against “the use of force on students, illegal arrest of leaders by the National Investigation Agency and the Kathua rape-and-murder case.”

Malik, who was on way to Jamia Masjid to participate in the protest, was detained by the police. The JKLF said Malik was detained in Khanyar, nearly a kilometre from Jamia Masjid, and was allegedly assaulted by the police.

The police, however, said a vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint near Khanyar and the travellers were asked to produce the registration papers of the vehicle.