RootsIn -Beef festival turns Osmania University into battlefied:

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Beef festival turns Osmania University into battlefied:

Location - Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh ..Posted on 16 Apr 2012

Hyderabad:A student of the Osmania University was stabbed for supporting a beef festival organised by several student groups protesting against "food fascism" in hostels, police said on Monday. The beef festival saw clashes, where five students were injured, and vehicles were burnt.

The situation in the university was tense as violence continued in the campus past midnight with a group of students attacking the 'C' hostel and stabbing a student for supporting the beef festival. Police said the injured student was admitted to Gandhi Hospital.

Protestors set a bus of the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) on fire.

The clashes broke out Sunday night after some Dalit and left-wing student groups organised a beef festival on the campus, to highlight their demand for including beef in the hostel menu. Over 200 students and some professors attended the festival and ate various dishes made of beef.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists staged a agitation against the festival and clashed with the organisers. The two groups pelted with stones each other. Five students were injured in the clashes. Two vehicles were also set afire.

Police used teargas shells to disperse the clashing groups. The campus, which witnessed many violent protests over separate Telangana state during last two years, turned into a battlefield.The ABVP, which opposed the beef festival, called for a university shutdown on Monday.

Police have blocked all the routes leading to the university and deployed additional police and paramilitary forces on the campus to prevent further clashes.