After a brief lull, tension gripped the Osmania University campus on Tuesday as students clashed with the police. They were protesting the arrest of Telugu Desam leaders Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Mr Harishwar Reddy as the latter were trying to enter the campus to meet a group of students fasting since the last six days demanding the elimination of Clause 14 (f) in the Presidential Order.
Students pelted stones and tried to force themselves out of the campus and take out a rally towards Tarnaka and NCC gate, but the police thwarted their attempts by lobbing around 50 rounds of teargas shells and resorting to mild lathicharge.
Except for the violence at OU, there were sporadic incidents in the city, including an attack on the houses of Malkajgiri MLA Akula Rajendar and MP Sarvepalli Satyanarayana in Marredpally. The protesters demanded that the leaders should resign in support of a separate Telangana. A Telangana activist even climbed a tower and threatened to commit suicide if Mr Akula Rajendar did not resign.
Vice-chairman of National Disaster Management Committee and MLA from Sanathnagar, Mr Marri Shashidhar Reddy’s convoy was gheraoed by Telangana propagandists when he went to the Yellamma Devi temple in Balkampet. The protesters allegedly threw eggs, slippers and placards at his car. Police personnel intervened and took around 45 agitators into custody.
Anticipating trouble, around 32 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed across the city on Tuesday and security personnel, including Rapid Action Force and Task Force police, fortified the OU campus by closing down both the entry points and placed barbed wires along the compound wall of the campus.
From morning, students had started taking out rallies in the campus.