Srinagar : Shops and businesses are on strike across Indian-controlled Kashmir and marchers are burning US flags and an effigy of President Barack Obama in protest against an anti-Islam video.

Protests took place in the region’s main city of Srinagar and at least seven other towns Tuesday. Troops patrolled the largely deserted streets of Srinagar as public transport stayed off the roads.

An alliance of Kashmiri religious groups called the strike in response to a film produced in the US ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad. The strike was supported by the bar association, trade unions and separatist groups. Authorities placed key separatist leaders under house arrest, a common tactic aimed at stopping them from leading public rallies.

Muslim cleric Qazi Yasir called for a boycott of US goods.