Violence eruptsin Hyderabad over Telangana
Braving police blockades, lathicharge, teargas shelling, water cannons and a heavy downpour, thousands of Telangana activists went on a massive “Sagara Haaram Telangana March” to Hyderabad’s Necklace Road on Sunday demanding statehood.
Some leaders exhorted supporters to squat on Necklace Road overnight till the Centre declared statehood, and urged ministers, Congress MPs and MLAs to resign and join the movement.
“We’ll not go empty-handed. We will leave only after an announcement,” said Prof. Kodandaram of Telangana Joint Action Committee.
Despite giving permission for the meeting from 3 pm to 7 pm, the police began using water cannons from 6.40 pm. Some activists ran helter-skelter, but thousands were unmoved. Activists fought pitched battles with the police, and blamed the government for the violence in which several activists, journalists and policemen were injured.
Necklace Road appeared a battlefield with armed police, burnt vehicles, damaged properties and slippers left behind by the crowds. Violence spread to the Osmania University campus and the secretariat, where mobs burnt two media vehicles and police vans.
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