Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday detained two union leaders and used mild force to prevent fresh protests at the Katra base camp in Jammu’s Reasi district against a proposed ropeway project along the trek route to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

The detainees were identified as Bhupinder Singh Jamwal, a labour union leader, and Sohan Chand, a representative of shopkeepers. Singh is also a Congress leader.

They were later released to avoid an escalation in protests, sources said.

Many locals believe the ropeway will rob them of their livelihood.

Senior Congress leaders and former ministers Raman Bhalla and Lal Singh reached Katra in the afternoon to extend support to the protesters. Hundreds of people converged to listen to their speeches.

The protests had turned violent on Monday after stone-pelting mobs attacked police and CRPF personnel, leaving several cops injured. The protesters had agreed to call off their agitation after the administration sought time till December 15 to address their concerns.

The trigger for fresh protests on Wednesday was an FIR lodged in connection with Monday’s violence after which the police rounded up several suspects in multiple raids.

Dozens of protesters led by Jamwal and Chand tried to take out a protest march, raising slogans against the ropeway and the police raids. However, the police swung into action and forcibly took the duo to the police station. Chand had a scuffle with the cops as he tried to resist his detention.

Jamwal and Chand later apologised for Monday’s violence but vowed to resist the ropeway project unless the affected people wereproperly compensated.

Chand said the two sides had reached an agreement on Monday after which they called off their protests.

“There was chaos after they started arresting people. That perturbed us. There are poor people involved. In order to find out what had happened, we were heading towards the police station (in the form of a march). They started raining lathis on us,” he told reporters.

After his release, Jamwal said they were not opposed to any action against the people involved in Monday’s violence.

“Those who used violence, we are telling them to surrender before the police. You have maligned the labourer community. It should not have happened in Mata’s (Vaishno Devi) town,” he said.

“We want to tell LG (Manoj Sinha) sahab that Katra’s people are peace-loving…. We do not want to turn this place into another Kashmir. We don’t have an anti-India or pro-Pakistan bent of mind,” he added.

Videos of Monday’s violence had gone viral on social media, with many wondering why the police took no action against the protesters.

Several social media users asked how the police would have reacted to a similar protest in Kashmir.

On Tuesday, the police booked eight persons for the violence. The FIR claims the protesters assaulted on-duty officials and attempted to harm the cops with bricks, stones and weapons.