SRINAGAR — Indian government forces used tear gas and wooden canes Friday to disperse hundreds of Kashmiri workers who clashed with them at a sprawling camp for Hindu pilgrims heading for a Himalayan cave, leaving dozens of people injured, police said. Nearly 200 tents pitched for Hindu pilgrims were burned down in a fire that erupted during the clashes in Baltal, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Baltal is the base camp for the Hindu pilgrims heading to the Amarnath shrine. The Kashmiri workers pitched the camp’s tents and looked after the pilgrims. Police said the trouble started on Thursday night following a squabble between an official manning a community kitchen at the site and one of the local workers.

 
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