Hundreds of activists and students were arrested here on Wednesday as the Telangana police cracked down on them to scuttle the ‘March for Jobs’ rally planned by the Joint Action Committee. Kodandaram, Chairman of the JAC, was arrested from his residence early in the morning in a bid to stop the rally.

Interestingly the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had created the JAC to galvanise support for the Telangana movement. The party quit the JAC after it went on to form the government when the new State was created.

On Wednesday, a huge posse of police was deployed at the Osmania University and at the Dharna Chowk here, where the JAC planned to hold the day-long protest. The JAC has been demanding the State Government fill up job vacancies in the public sector immediately.

The police refused to give permission to the JAC to hold the protest at the Dharna Chowk and asked the organisers to shift the venue to the outskirts of the city after the High Court intervened.

Protesting against the widespread arrests, the JAC has called for a bandh of educational institutions on Thursday.

Human rights activists and intellectuals, including Rama Melkote, S Jeevan Kumar and K Sajaya, addressed a press conference later in the day to condemn the government action.

“It is a black day. Their demands are genuine. The government must stop resorting to autocratic measures,” they said.

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