Protests against fuel price hike turns violent in Kashmir

Police resorted to tear gas shells in order to control agitators protesting against the fuel price hike in Jammu and Kashmir, India, recently. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Srinagar while protesting against the rise in prices of fuel in the country. Irked protesters raised slogans against the government and pelted stones on policemen. Protests over the fuel price rise have lost steam elsewhere in the country as political parties sense grudging acceptance by citizens of the unpopular price hike. The Central Government had announced the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel by about 10% and a cylinder of cooking gas by 17%, the biggest hike in fuel prices in 12 years. (June 12, 2008)