Date:05/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/05/stories/2009010555460300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Separatists disrupt Andhra Development Forum meet

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: A meeting by the Andhra Development Forum Inc (USA) to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of an integrated State or separate Telangana was disrupted here on Sunday when about a dozen pro-Telangana activists’ forced their way in, broke furniture and manhandled the organisers on stage.

Scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. the meeting at IMAX Gardens, Kukatpally, began two hours late. Shortly thereafter, as T.G. Venkatesh of the Rayalaseema Hakkula Iykya Vedika was speaking, about a dozen people barged in, pushing the sparse policemen, all the while shouting ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans.

The intruders mounted the dais, pulled down some persons, including a policeman, and damaged furniture. They tore the table cloth and continued slogan-shouting before the police bundled them out. Ten of them were arrested and cases of trespass registered.

Forum founder Vijay Penmetsa condemned the incident and questioned the Telangana protagonists’ violent behaviour.