Thousands march for Telangana amid clashes

 

IANS/Hyderabad

A pro-Telangana supporter shouts slogans near police vehicles which were set on fire during a protest in the southern city of Hyderabad yesterday

Thousands of protesters demanding a separate Telangana state refused to leave Necklace Road here as a deadline set by police ended yesterday evening. The marchers earlier clashed with security personnel.Police used water cannons to disperse the protesters after they squatted on the road on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake.Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) convener M Kodandaram and other leaders said the protest would continue until the central government agrees to the demand for a separate state.The police had given permission for the march from 3pm to 7pm.Earlier, the protesters set on fire two police and four media vehicles and tried to attack two restaurants and a multiplex. People from the city and neighbouring districts converged on Necklace Road as tension mounted due to clashes in the surrounding areas.Holding flags of their respective parties and groups, the protesters squatted on the Buddha Bhavan-P V Ghat stretch. Hundreds of youngsters occupied the parallel railway track.Raising slogans of “Jai Telangana” amid the beating of drums and singing songs men, women and children from various sections asked the central government to make Telangana a separate state.Leaders of the JAC, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and organisations of students, employees, lawyers, women and trade unions took part in the march.Youngsters removed barricades and clashed with police to advance towards the secretariat and other high-security areas. Police fired tear gas shells in at least three places to disperse the protesters who tried to remove the barricades.The police twice arrested MPs from the ruling Congress from Telangana who staged a sit-in in front of the chief minister’s office to protest against the large-scale arrests of people coming to Hyderabad.A section of state ministers from the region threatened to quit.The cancellation of dozens of trains and buses in the Telangana region and the arrests of hundreds heading to the state capital angered pro-Telangana groups, who alleged that the government was trying to suppress the movement despite giving permission for the march.The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was deployed at the chief minister’s camp office in Begumpet.Several parts of the city resembled battle zones, with police sealing off the routes around the secretariat, the chief minister’s office and other high-security areas.Legislators of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were also arrested in front of the assembly building as they blocked traffic in support of the march.Amid fears that the properties of people from the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions could be attacked, many roads were sealed off. Police chief Dinesh Reddy monitored the situation from a helicopter.At Osmania University, students stoned the police.JAC convener M. Kodandaram condemned what he said was a government conspiracy to foil the march by cancelling trains and buses from various parts of Telangana to Hyderabad.Another Telangana leader, N Janardhana Reddy, threatened to disrupt the UN global biodiversity conference opening here today.Supporters of the Telangana movement have long demanded a separate state that would include Hyderabad and 10 administrative districts of Andhra Pradesh.