Intense Clashes Between Protesters and Security Personnel During Shutdown Claim 4 Lives in Leh

Wangchuk Calls Off Fast, Says Frustration Among Youth Was Trigger

PTI, LEH, SEPT 24, 2025 :  Four people were killed and 30 others injured in intense clashes between protesters and security personnel during the Leh Apex Body (LAB) sponsored shutdown in Leh town of Ladakh on Wednesday, officials said.

Police had to resort to firing to bring the situation under control after the protesters, who have launched an agitation for statehood for Ladakh and extension of the Sixth Schedule, indulged in widespread violence, attacking a BJP office and several vehicles, they said.

Four people were killed and 30 others injured in intense clashes, the officials said. The protesters claimed that the four people were killed in police firing.

The Ladakh Apex Body (LAB) youth wing called for the protest after two of the 15 people, who were on a 35-day hunger strike since September 10 in support of the demand for statehood and extension of the Sixth Schedule, were shifted to a hospital after their condition deteriorated on Tuesday evening.

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk on Wednesday expressed sadness over the incidents of violence and blamed the frustration building among the "Gen Z" for the violence in which four youths were killed.

The climate activist, who was leading a hunger strike in Leh over the twin demands, called off the hunger strike after a large number of youths took to the streets.

Addressing an online press conference, Wangchuk said two of the protesters, a 72-year-old man and a woman (62), were taken to a hospital on Tuesday, and claimed that it was most likely the immediate trigger for the violent protest.

The activist said frustration had been building among the youths as the peaceful protests were not yielding any results. He also said there are reports that three to five youths were killed.

Giving the sequence of events, he said a large number of "Gen Z" youths came to the protest site on Wednesday, where prayers were being held. He said 2,000–5,000 youth then took to the streets.

"Two people were taken to the hospital yesterday. That appears to be the immediate trigger... It moved the younger generation. Youths of Ladakh together gave a call for Ladakh bandh, and all the people gathered at the site where we were sitting on a fast.

"As the programme was progressing with prayer and speeches, a group of young people went out raising slogans. Later, we heard they went on a rampage, burnt police vehicles and the BJP office in Leh," Wangchuk said.

"What happened today is very sad. It is being said that three to four youths have been killed," he said.