ARMY UNITS CALLED OUT IN HYDERABAD

HYDERABAD, June 24 (UNI, PTI)—The Army was called out today in Hyderabad when the Telengana agitators became violent in the afternoon. The Army units took up positions in front of the Brindavan Hotel, the “Integrationists’ Centre”, which was the scene of arson a few hours earlier. A red banner proclaiming: “If you cross the line, you will be shot” was displayed before the crowd began dispersing. Earlier, the city witnessed an unprecedented mass defiance of prohibitory orders culminating in the bursting of tear-gas shells and a lathi-charge by the police. The police twice fired tear-gas shells and made lathi-charges to disperse Telengana agitators who attacked a hotel and a police station near the Abid’s Circle. Over a dozen persons were injured, two of them seriously, in the lathi-charges. The crowd ransacked the hotel and smashed furniture and crockery. Thousands of people took out processions in various parts of the twin cities.