[1][2] The massacre happened two days after the Government of India appointed Jagmohan as the Governor for a second time in a bid to control the mass protests by Kashmiris.

[9] An often-heard slogan was "Azadi ka matlab kya, La Ilahi lilillah [illallah]" ("What is the meaning of freedom?

[17][18] India Today described the mood in the Valley as one of open defiance: "mobs challenged the gun, defying policemen to fire at them".

They chanted slogans for "Indian dogs go back" and "Azadi ka matlab kya, La Ilahi lilillah [illallah]" ("What is freedom, Allah is the only god").

[19] As word of the raids spread on 20 January 1990, crowds gathered outside the Divisional Commissioner's office in Srinagar to protest the 'atrocities', and were tear-gassed.

[20] On 21 January 1990, as reports of arrests and alleged molestation in the Chotta Bazaar locality spread across Srinagar, thousands of people gathered to protest.

When the unarmed crowd reached the bridge, they were fired upon from both sides of the river, resulting in the deaths of 50 people and injuries to dozens of others.

"[1] Indian authorities put the official death toll for the massacre initially at 21–28,[23] International human rights organisations and scholars estimate that at least 50, and likely over 100 protesters were killed—some by gunshot wounds, other by drowning after they jumped into the river in fear.

[24] As a Human Rights Watch stated in a report from May, 1991, "In the weeks that followed the Gawkadal massacre as security forces fired on crowds of marchers and as militants intensified their attacks against the police and those suspected of aiding them, Kashmir’s civil war began in earnest.

"[15] MJ Akbar, editor of the Asian Age newspaper, said of the massacre, "January 19 became the catalyst which propelled into a mass upsurge.