Protests over new state in India turn violent

Jan 20, 2010, 12:34 GMT

New Delhi - Protests over the creation of a Telangana state turned violent Wednesday in southern India as police arrested several protest leaders and took custody of the body of a student who had committed suicide over the issue.

Two students have killed themselves since Monday in support of the separation of the Telangana region from the rest of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Demonstrating students at the Osmania University campus in Hyderabad clashed with police as they tried to march to the city centre with the body of final year student Venugopal Reddy, who took his own life Tuesday.

At least a dozen students and five officers were injured in clashes as the police stopped the procession and put the body in an ambulance, the IANS news agency reported.

The police fired several rounds into the air, lobbed tear-gas shells and baton-charged the students, who were throwing stones.

In December, after weeks of pro-independence protests by students and the regional Telengana Rashtriya Samiti party, India's federal government agreed to the creation of a Telangana state.

But days later, after its announcement provoked sharp protests from other parts of Andhra Pradesh, the government put the decision on hold, saying more consultations were needed.

Normal life across nine northern districts of the state, including the capital, Hyderabad, came to a halt Wednesday as a 48-hour strike was called by the Joint Action Committee, established to campaign for the new state's creation.

The committee also demanded the resignation of all current lawmakers from the Telangana region.

More than 4,000 state transport buses stayed off roads as the administration feared they might be attacked by protestors. All schools, colleges and most shops and businesses in the state's northern districts and capital were closed.

Pro-Telengana campaigners claimed their area, comprising 10 northern districts of Andhra Pradesh, suffered economically to the profit of the state's other two regions.

Their demand for a separate state includes Hyderabad, one of India's major information-technology and pharmaceutical hubs.