On the 550th day of protests in the Amaravati region, locals residents, including women, gathered in large numbers at Mandadam, Uddandarayunivaripalem and Thullur areas and various villages to voice their demand for a single Capital of Amaravati.
The protests have crossed 500 days and are continuing amid the raging pandemic.
The men and women reached the camps set up some two years back, for the first time, ever since the pandemic broke out last year. In Nekkali, they formed a human chain and in Thullur, the protesters recited the Gita in a novel form of protest. The Joint Action Committee had given a call to march to the Chief Minister’s Camp Office.
Meanwhile, a large number of police personnel were deployed at the camps and check-posts were set up. The police stopped the locals at Uddandarayunivaripalem, and the protesters at Mandadam. Police forces were also deployed on all routes en route and all attempts of the Joint Action Committee to take a march to the CM’s Camp Office were foiled.
The villagers later left in a rally, but were stopped by the police, who said that the mass gatherings were not allowed since COVID restrictions were in place.
In Guntur, a large number of JAC leaders, including Rayapati Sailaja and Ravipati Sai Krishna, were placed under house arrest by the police, who had issued notices to them citing COVID restrictions.
Superintendent of Police, Guntur Urban, K. Arif Hafeez said the police had ensured that the protests went on in a peaceful manner and added that no arrests were made.
