Police on Sunday fired tear gas shells at students of Osmania University besides arresting scores of Telangana activists, who tried to take out a rally in response to a 36-hour protest call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC).
They stopped the activists, including Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs, in the morning from reaching the programme venue as the government had refused permission to stage the protest in the city.
However, the activists were allowed to carry out the protest programme later in the day as the government changed its mind.
Earlier, TRS leaders said the government was not even allowing the people of Telangana to stage peaceful protests in support of their demand for separate statehood but at the same time it was allowing the leaders from coastal Andhra to stage rallies against the demand.