[1]The beef festival held at Osmania University on Sunday turned violent as those opposing it went on a rampage and fought a pitched battle with the organisers. Both sides hurled stones and attacked vehicles.
The police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the groups. The students who tried to obstruct the beef festival set the OB van of a news channel on fire. They also damaged vehicles and bikes. Dalit student unions had organised the beef festival at NRSH Hostel on the OU campus at around 5 pm. Some 1,500 students and some professors attended and ate the beef preparations to express their cultural identity and traditional right and to oppose the culture of “food fascism” in university hostels.
The trouble started when a group of around 300 students residing in various hostels on the campus gathered and took out a rally at 6.30 pm to the NRSH Hostel to obstruct the beef festival. Police closed all the entry and exit gates of the campus and prevented the agitators from proceeding towards NRSH Hostel. Angered by this, the students pelted stones at the police and the hostel and also damaged the street lights on the campus. After a lathicharge failed to control the agitators, the police fired tear gas shells and chased the students back to their hostels and finally brought the situation under control.
OU police station inspector P. Ashok Kumar said no one has been charged so far. “No complaint has been lodged by anyone over the issue yet. We have not booked any cases,” he said. However, the police is contemplating booking cases against those who set the OB van on fire and damaged private vehicles.
The OU VC, Prof. S. Satyanarayana, termed the developments on the campus as “unfortunate”.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/16beef-festivaljpgcropdisplayjpg-227