Police arrested Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik in an overnight raid after he led a rally urging people to boycott forthcoming state elections in Kashmir, police said on Thursday.

Multi-stage state elections are due to start on November 17 in Kashmir, where the past two months have witnessed some of the biggest protests since 1989.

Malik, chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front who started an anti-election campaign in north Kashmir on Wednesday was detained at his house in Srinagar.

Police used tear gas and batons to disperse scores of demonstrators protesting against the arrest.

Kashmir's main separatist alliance the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, has called for a complete boycott of the elections scheduled to be held in seven phases.

"New Delhi is trying to project the election as an alternative solution to Kashmir, but we will not allow it to happen," Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters. "We appeal to the people to boycott the elections."

The government has announced a ban on public meetings of five or more people for one month.

There will be a massive deployment of security forces across the region during the poll.