The Hyderabad Police on Monday detained a group of VHP and Bajrang Dal activists before they could stage a protest outside the US Consulate in the city against a CIA report that branded them as "militant organisations".

The activists were stopped by police in Begumpet when they were trying to march towards the consulate building. As a precaution, the Hyderabad Police had detained a few leaders of VHP.

Security was also tightened around the US consulate.

The protestors, who were bundled into vans near the Airports Authority of India (AAI) building, were raising slogans against the US and the Central Intelligence Agency. 

The organisations had called for laying a siege to the consulate to protest against the CIA report which described them as "militant religious outfits". The CIA factbook on India called RSS a "political pressure group".

However, some VHP leaders condemned the preventive detention and said that they had been planning to submit a representation to consulate officials.

The police on the other hand, said that the area was a high-security zone and they did not want to take any chances.

Earlier this week, the VHP demanded an apology from the CIA for classifying it along with Bajrang Dal as "militant religious outfits" and threatened global protests if the tag is not removed.

In a statement, the VHP called the classification in the CIA's World Factbook "objectionable", "disrespectful" and "non-factual".

It said the CIA, which was responsible for the creation of Osama Bin Laden, had no rights to comment on the saffron outfit that worked for India's welfare.

VHP leader Surendra Jain said there were "vested interests" behind the move and the CIA's "anti-India mindset" could be seen from the fact that some parts of Jammu and Kashmir were shown in Pakistan in the maps used in the Factbook.

He urged the Indian government to take up the matter with the US government in order to pressurise the CIA to "rectify the errors" in the Factbook.
 

IANS inputs