SRINAGAR (India) - POLICE fired tear gas and used batons to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators on Friday as anti-India protests flared again in Kashmir, police said.

Thousands of people took to the streets after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority region, responding to a call from separatist leaders to step up protests against Indian rule during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The marchers chanted 'Go, India go' and 'It has come, it has come, freedom, freedom' in demonstrations that were largely peaceful until police tried to stop them.

Several hundred people then began throwing rocks at the security forces, wounding four officers, said Mr Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

Police fired tear gas and beat protesters with bamboo batons, he said. He had no figures for the number of protesters wounded.

In recent months the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has seen some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades.

While they subsided in recent weeks, separatist leaders have launched a string of protests during Ramadan. A general strike has been called for Saturday.

At least 45 people have died in the recent violence, most of them killed when soldiers opened fire on Muslim protesters.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Indian-administered Kashmir, where most people favor independence from mainly Hindu India, or a merger with predominantly Muslim Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region.

Separatist groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule. The fighting has killed an estimated 68,000 people. -- AP