Hyderabad: Student leaders detained ahead of ‘Chalo Secretariat’ rally

Hyderabad: Several government job aspirants and student leaders were arrested near Tank Bund and neighbouring areas when they tried to lay siege to the Secretariat on Monday morning as part of the ‘Chalo Secretariat’ protest called by student organisations and unemployed youth associations to postpone the DSC A and Group II exams. Students and government job aspirants started gathering around the Telangana Secretariat building in small groups. However, hundreds of policemen, including the Quick Response Team (QRT), Commissioner Task Force and local police, identified the potential protesters and took them into custody.

Some youths managed to run towards the Secretariat building and sat down on the road. Police picked them up and took them away in police vehicles. All of them were taken to different police stations and the Goshamahal Police Stadium. Since morning, police had put up barricades on the roads leading to the state secretariat and lathi-wielding policemen were guarding the traffic junctions. Police had also deployed personnel at Lumbini Park to prevent people from going to Hussainsagar and staging any protest there. Mounted police, water cannons and tear gas squads were deployed at various places to deal with any untoward incident. Police took several leaders into preventive custody across the state in view of the protest call. In the city, police raided the houses and hostels of leaders early in the morning. Heavy police deployment was made in Ashoknagar, RTC Cross Road, Osmania University, Secunderabad PG College, Nizam College and some other places.