Chalo Assembly activists arrested across State

Thousands come out to decry Medaram encounter

Hyderabad: Thousands of activists of Left parties and other mass organisations across Telangana were arrested on Wednesday to foil their march to state Assembly to protest against the killing of two Maoists Shruthi and Vidyasagar in Medaram forest of Warangal district on September 16.

The Telangana Democratic Front (TDF) has alleged that the killing of Maoists was a fake encounter. Leaders and workers of 10 left parties and 375 other organisations were detained in districts to prevent them from heading for Hyderabad to participate in the march called by the TDF. In Hyderabad, eminent educationist Chuka Ramaiah was kept under house arrest.

This is the first major rally that has been organised since the formation of Telangana state. The area in and around assembly building was virtually turned into a fortress as police imposed restrictions on all roads leading towards Assembly. A large number of policemen were deployed in the area to prevent protesters.

The entire area was heavily barricaded and barbed wires were laid at several places to prevent the rallyists to come anywhere near the Assembly building. Still Rajkumar, a young man of 28 years, managed to reach Gun Park and attempted self-immolation. Police foiled his bid and arrested him.

Revolutionary poet Varavara Rao and others were taken into preventive custody by the Task Force police at RTC Crossroads, CPI State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, CPI (M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram were arrested near Sundaraiah Vignan Kendra when they tried to take out a rally.

Majlis Bachao Tehreek leader Amjadullah Khan, Darsgah Jihad-o-Shahadat President MA Majid, secretary Salahuddin Affan and Mohammed Bin Omer and several others were taken into preventive custody in order to prevent them participating in the rally.

Police denied permission to the Telangana Democratic Forum, which gave the call for ‘Chalo Assembly’ on the ground that Maoists may participate in it and indulge in violence.

Those arrested in Warangal, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Karimnagar, Medak and Nalgonda include women and students. Raising slogan against the government and calling for an end to "fake encounters", the protesters took out rallies in different parts of the state. The parents of Maoists Shruthi were also arrested at Himayatnagar.

CPM state secretary T Veerabhadram termed the arrests as undemocratic. Academician Chukka Ramaiah said that the arrests would not stop the movement taken up by the Left parties in protest against the fake encounters by the police.