Thousands of protesters took the streets in Kashmir on Saturday shouting against India in Meeraj-un-Nabi day following authorities lifted a four-day curfew.

Leading pro-independent leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq led the procession of thousands of Kashmiris through the streets of downtown Srinagar, urban hub of a two-decade struggle against New Delhi's rule that has claimed thousands of lives.

Thousands of protesters took the streets in Kashmir on Saturday shouting against India in Meeraj-un-Nabi day following authorities lifted a four-day curfew.

Indan troops killed at least 15 people during protests in the past three weeks, amid the biggest demonstrations against Indian rule in two years across Muslim Kashmir, Reuters said.

Many local people blame security forces for the deaths.

"Tomorrow there is a major festival at Hazratbal shrine and therefore there will be relaxation of curfew from tonight till late evening tomorrow," Indian Home (Interior) Secretary Gopal Pillai told state-run television on Friday.

In many parts of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, people swarmed into grocery shops when the curfew was lifted, having run out of food since the restrictions were imposed, witnesses said.

Every year, tens of thousands of Kashmiri Muslims throng to Hazratbal shrine, the holiest in the region, to celebrate Meeraj-un-Nabi, the ascension of the Prophet Mohammad to heaven. The celebrations started in Kashmir on Friday evening.

The shrine holds a relic that many believe is a hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammad.

Earlier in the day, thousands of people defied a curfew in north Kashmir and took to the streets shouting "we want freedom."
 

Police used batons and fired in the air to enforce the curfew, and said at least 20 people were wounded in the clashes.

"We condemn innocent killings," Farooq chanted through a loudspeaker as residents shouted back in unison, "Farooq, we are with you".
 

Agencies