Hyderabad, October 27: Tension prevailed at the Secretariat after the Osmania University Joint Action Committee (OUJAC)students were arrested for gatecrashing into the Secretariat premises here today demanding the state government to cancel its plans to conduct the official celebrations of Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1.
The arrest of the students led to some tense moments in the OU campus with the students staging a protest in the evening demanding release of the arrested OUJAC students.
About 60 students of the OUJAC assembled at Lumbini Park and NTR Gardens in small groups this morning.
Later they rushed towards the Secretariat. A couple of students entered into the Secretariat but were obstructed by the police. Some of them even tried to scale the gates but in vain. Some students staged a sit-in displaying placards. As students came on to the roads, vehicular traffic came to a standstill on the Secretariat road. Later, the police arrested the agitators and shifted them to Nampally police station.
Police said 40 students have been taken into preventive custody and were produced before a court. They were later released on bail.
Meanwhile, the officials took the incident seriously pointing lapses of the security personnel in preventing the agitators from entering the Secretariat premises.
A senior official said that the security personnel have not learnt lessons despite repeated attempts of students, employees and job seekers to lay siege to the Secretariat.
Another official pointed out that the incident occurred as the personnel posted at the gate were new entrants into the force and had little experience in handling such situations.
OU students blocked traffic in the campus and staged a protest.
–Agencies