AP Formation Day triggers protest in OU

Hyderabad: On Andhra Pradesh formation day,T hot bed Osmania University turned into a battlefield with police and students staging a standoff that lasted till late in the evening.Osmania University-Joint Action Committee (OU-JAC ) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi Vidyarthi Vibhag (TRSVV) had called for a students march to martyrs memorial at Indira Park on Tuesday.The rally turned violent when students were stopped at the NCC gate of the campus. Trouble started at 10.30 am when the students hoisted a black flag in front of the Arts College building to commemorate the martyrs who had died for the Telangana cause in the past.Soon after the flag hoisting ceremony,about 1,200 students took out a rally towards the NCC gate.Osmania University had suspended classes for the day following a campus bandh call given by OU-JAC. When stopped at the gate,students claimed that they had permission from the university authorities to conduct a peace rally and tried to break the barricades at the NCC gate.To drive the protesters back into the university campus the police fired tear gas shells.While the students retreated into the campus for a while they retaliated by pelting stones.The police had reportedly fired about 25 rounds of tear gas shells injuring one student.The injured student,Prabhakar,an MA student from the political science department was shifted to the nearby Durga Bai Deshmukh Hospital. The protesters also damaged four private vehicles that were passing through the campus.While the windshields of all the cars were broken,one of them was overturned.The passengers had stepped out of the cars when they were stopped and hence there were no injuries.The students who were wearing handcuffs to symbolically represent bondage of the T region were seen mounting the cars to break the windows,lights and even windshields of the cars.The university campus was cordoned off on Wednesday,to prevent students from leaving the campus.A total of 400 police personnel were deployed around the campus on Tuesday.The university was put under tight security starting Saturday.Vehicular traffic through the OU campus will be blocked for a week, OU police officials said.The police had imposed Section 144 of CrPC in and around the campus to prevent unlawful activity.Students condemned the police presence around the campus.We were intimidated and insulted by the police.If students from Telangana cannot take out a rally even on a day which is called the formation day,it proves that the T region is not free, said M Krishank. ON THE BOIL AGAIN: A protester throws stones at the police for imposing ban on a proposed rally against AP Formation Day on the Osmania University campus on Tuesday.(Right) Schoolchildren run for cover during the standoff between police and the students

(Sourcce-toi)

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