The demonstrations broke out immediately after people offered the congregational Eid Al-Fitr prayers in the morning and ended in violence and arson.

The marchers chanting ‘we want freedom’ and ‘Go India, go back’ converged on the city center Lal Chowk filling sprawling area to the brim.

The biggest march, led by the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq began its five kilometer long journey from the prayer grounds at Eidgah in the old city.

“Mirwaiz Umar Farooq incited the situation by leading a procession to Lal Chowk from Eid Gah taking the advantage of the Eid congregation and thus vitiated the Eid celebration in Srinagar,” a police statement said.

Shouting  anti-India slogans, the procession comprised of mostly youth with scores of them wearing masks to hide their faces.

As the procession reached Lal Chowk, massive sloganeering by cheering mobs greeted it.

Earlier groups of youth climbed the clock tower and hoisted green flags on it.

Hundreds of trucks and buses brought people, many of them sitting on roofs and hanging out of windows.

The violence comes as New Delhi is trying to respond to demonstrations reminiscent of the late 1980s when protests against India’s rule sparked an armed separatist conflict that has so far officially killed more than 47,000 people.

Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, earlier this week said “efforts were on to break the ice” but on Saturday said the separatists had betrayed his trust in them.

The scenic region, claimed by nuclear-armed rivals Indian and Pakistan, has been hit by strikes and curfews for three months. Protesters have defied curfews to attack police with stones and set security camps and police stations on fire.

“The law of jungle was prevailing in Kashmir and the troops were randomly killing Kashmiri youth to frighten people to submission,” Farooq said. “But our struggle will continue.”