Saturday, February 4 2006 12:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: AAI Employees Joint Forum today (Feb 4,2006) strongly protested at the alleged police action against agitating airport employees at Delhi airport around midnight last night and claimed that the 'assault on democratic rights' would not have been carried out without a nod from higher-ups.

A strong posse of police personnel swooped down on a group of protesters after midnight, beat them up and forcibly evicted them from the airport, Forum sources said. Protesters have started gathering at the site in the morning.

"It is highly condemnable that the police acted in the dead of night against the employees who were peacefully continuing the dharna. This attack was carried out after our meeting with the Prime Minister and our own meetings to resolve the issue," the Fourm Convenor M K Ghoshal told sources.

"This is a highly provocative step. Such an assault against the democratic rights of the employees could not have been carried out without a nod from some higher-ups," he said without elaborating.