Anti-Telangana protests: Shoot-at-sight orders in Vizianagaram

Visakhapatnam/Hyderabad: Defying shoot-at-sight orders and a curfew, anti-bifurcation protesters on Sunday hit the streets in Vizianagaram town and other parts of the district and clashed with the police. Police fired rubber bullets at Kothapeta area on the outskirts of the town to disperse the stone-pelting protesters, and used batons against a mob in Palliveedhi area. Satyna Engineering College, run by family members of the Andhra Pradesh Congress chief B Satyanarayana, at Gajularega on the outskirts of Vizianagaram, was also targeted. [caption id=“attachment_1152571” align=“alignright” width=“380”] AP[/caption] The agitators were not deterred by the curfew and the shoot-at-sight orders issued to police on Saturday night. Some protesters were taken into custody, police said. The curfew was imposed in the town in the wake of large-scale violence on Saturday. Vizianagaram, a town in coastal Andhra, has been on the boil since the Union Cabinet’s October 3 decision to create the state of Telangana out of the state of Andhra Pradesh. “Lot of violence was reported, with the protesters indulging in arson, looting shops, setting a bank on fire, and damaging public and private properties. In view of the violence, authorities ordered a curfew late last night,” Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, IGP (North Coastal Zone), told PTI. The 48-hour bandh called by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers Association got over on Saturday night. The situation in Seemandhra, overall, was under control, the IGP said. In Vizianagaram, protesters have been targeting the properties of Satyanarayana and his family members over the last two days. They also burned vehicles, set fire to the district cooperative central bank, a college and cable network run by Satyanarayna’s family members. In a pitched battle between police and protesters, nearly two dozen police personnel, including Vizianagaram DSP Krishna Prasanna, sustained injuries on Saturday. Additional forces are being deployed. Meanwhile, an indefinite strike launched on Sunday by electricity employees of Rayalaseema and the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh hit power supply in six districts of the state and also forced the railways to cancel train services. Hundreds of villages in six coastal Andhra districts plunged into darkness as the electricity employees went on an indefinite strike to protest the Centre’s decision to create a separate Telangana state. Seemandhra electricity employees’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) said over 30,000 electricity employees were participating in the strike in Seemandhra, as Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions are collectively known. The indefinite strike began after an earlier 48-hour-long strike ended on Sunday to protest the Union Cabinet’s decision to bifurcate the state. Agencies