Government employees from Telangana began protests in front of the Andhra Pradesh state secretariat here on Saturday after security personnel allegedly misbehaved with some of their leaders.
Mild tension prevailed at the secretariat main gate as the protesters squatted on the road, demanding suspension of five security officials.
The security staff stopped a few leaders of the Telangana government employees when they arrived at the secretariat to hold talks with a group of ministers on the government's invitation.
Following the incident, the leaders announced they were boycotting the talks. The group of ministers had invited the leaders for talks to find a solution to the ongoing non-cooperation movement by the employees, who are demanding a bill in parliament for a separate state of Telangana.
On hearing that their leaders were ill-treated, a large number of employees and Telangana supporters rushed to the secretariat and began the sit-in. Textile minister Shankar Rao and a couple of legislators also joined them in the protest.
Senior police officials were holding talks with the leaders to defuse the situation, which led to huge traffic jams around the secretariat.
About 300,000 employees in Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana are participating in the non-cooperation movement since February 17. They have also threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 5, if the centre failed to make a clear cut announcement on the formation of separate state.