Police chase away Kedarnath pilgrims trying to visit Himalayan shrine despite heavy rain alert

Dehradun, Aug 13 (PTI) Police on Wednesday wielded lathis to chase away people adamant on visiting Kedarnath despite a three-day suspension imposed on the yatra in view of a heavy rain warning till August 14.
    The district administration has suspended the yatra for three days in view of an alert issued by the weather department for heavy rain in various parts of the state on August 12, 13 and 14.
    In view of the alert of heavy rains across the state, the Badrinath and Hemkund Yatra have also been suspended till August 14.
    However on Wednesday, around 150 pilgrims reached Sonprayag and tried to proceed to Kedarnath from there, Rudraprayag Superintendent of Police Akshay Prahlad Konde said.
    He also said that when the pilgrims were told about the temporary suspension of the yatra, they got into a scuffle with the police personnel.
    The police personnel on duty had to wield lathis to disperse the pilgrims who refused to understand that the temporary suspension of the yatra was meant for their safety, the SP said.
    A video of the pilgrims scuffling with police personnel was shared widely on social media.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)