Srinagar, India - Thousands of people poured out of their houses and onto streets of Jammu and Kashmir state capital Srinagar defying curfew orders on Tuesday as local media reports said eight people died in police action against the protestors.

"We want freedom," the protestors shouted as they attempted to march towards Srinagar's main mosque, the Jama Masjid, where the body of a senior separatist leader who was killed by police firing on protestors on Monday was being kept.

Curfew had been imposed across the Kashmir valley fearing violence as the separatist Hurriyat Conference prepared to bury its dead leader. Some police posts were reportedly attacked by mobs, PTI news agency reported citing police sources.

All schools and colleges in the region have been closed till Thursday.

Army, paramilitary and police personnel were stretched to the limits as they tried to persuade and force people pouring out on the streets to return home.

Veteran Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, 69, and seven others were killed in police action on protestors attempting to march to the de facto border between India and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday.

The "Muzaffarabad march" was called by the Hurriyat Conference, along with the Kashmiri Fruit Growers Association, to protest a blockade of the main road to the valley through southern Jammu region over a temple land row.

Musaffarabad is the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The disputed region is divided into two parts, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan. India-administered Kashmir is part of Jammu and Kashmir state.

More than 30,000 people on the protest march were camped about 36 kilometres away from the line of control or the de facto border, where they had been stopped by the army, local media reports said.

The police refused to provide any information but local journalists based in smaller towns like Badgaon and Paigan near Srinagar said people were attempting to march towards the state capital.

Jammu and Kashmir has seen violent, communalized, protests by Hindus and Muslims for more than a month over the allotment of government land to the board that organizes an annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine followed by cancellation of the order.

At least 35 people have been killed and scores injured in the protests against the allotment by Kashmiri Muslim groups in the northern part of the state and demands for reinstatement of the order by Hindu activists in the south.

Attempts by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the issue through an all-party initiative have so far yielded no results.

Organizers of the Muzaffarabad march claim that essential supplies to the valley have been cut off and the blockade in Jammu was ruining fruit growers who could not transport their goods. Officials claim the blockades have been removed with the help of the army.

Meanwhile, protests continued in Jammu region led by a forum of organizations calling itself the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (Battle for Amarnath Forum), PTI news agency reported. Two of three leaders who were on a hunger strike had been forcibly removed to hospital after their condition deteriorated, the police said.