Wednesday, August 23 2006 14:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Resident doctors of Delhi's medical colleges were marking Wednesday as a black day and declared they would go on mass leave tomorrow(Aug 24, 2006) to protest the decision to implement caste-based quotas in central universities and institutes.

"We will wear black badges on our aprons all through the day to protest against the quota decision. The badge would also express our solidarity towards medical students and interns who were brutally thrashed by policemen Tuesday," said Anil Sharma, spokesperson of resident doctors association of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Sharma added that the doctors have also decided to go on mass leave Thursday.

"We have the right to protest against the government's decision at least," he said.

"Doctors of the medical colleges and hospitals would meet during the day to discuss further course of action," added Jitendra Singla, president of the resident doctors association of Maulana Azad Medical College.

"We do not want patients to face any difficulty due to our agitation," he said.

Medical students and Delhi university students have been agitating against the government's policy to provide 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in institutions of higher education. Initially, the nationwide protests had started in April-May.

The protests restarted when the cabinet decided on Monday to introduce a bill in the ongoing session of parliament to implement the reservations in government-aided institutes of higher education.

On Tuesday, a day after the cabinet decision, large scale protests and clashes between medical students and police were reported at various places in the capital with 26 people being detained.

"Three of our students sustained severe injuries due to police violence," said Sharma.