HYDERABAD, Sept 30: Braving heavy rain, thousands of protesters demanding a separate Telangana state refused to leave Necklace Road here even as the deadline set by police ended on Sunday evening. The protesters earlier clashed with security personnel.

Police used water cannons to disperse protesters after they squatted on the road on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) convener M. Kodandaram and other leaders said the protest would continue till the central government agreed to the demand for a separate state.

Police had given permission for the march from 3pm to 7pm.

Earlier, protesters set afire two police and four media vehicles and tried to attack two restaurants and a multiplex. People from the city and neighbouring districts converged on Necklace Road as tension mounted due to clashes in surrounding areas. Holding flags of their respective parties and groups, the protesters squatted on the Buddha Bhavan-PV Ghat stretch. Hundreds of youngsters occupied the parallel railway track.

Raising slogans of “Jai Telangana” amid the beating of drums, men, women and children asked the central government to make Telangana a separate state.

Leaders of the JAC, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India and organisations of students, employees, lawyers, women and trade unions were on the dais.

Youngsters removed barricades and clashed with police to advance towards the secretariat and other high-security areas. Police fired tear gas shells in at least three places to disperse the protesters. —By arrangement with the Times of India