Friday, August 25 2006 10:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Intensifying their anti-quota stir, medicos and students yesterday (Aug 24, 2006) staged rallies and struck work in several parts of the country, with police using water cannons and batons to disperse protestors in the national capital and Kolkata.

In Delhi, junior doctors of three key hospitals including AIIMS went on mass casual leave and joined medical and university students in a protest near the Supreme Court, where prohibitory orders were in force.

Many protestors were injured when police used teargas and water cannons after the medicos tried to break through a barricade 100 m from the apex court premises.

Several medicos were injured in Kolkata when police baton charged protestors who blocked the arterial Chittaranjan Avenue and Bowbazar street.

Protests were also organised in Indore, Kanpur and Mumbai, where five persons including Maratha Mahasangh president Sunil Pawar were arrested during a stir last night.

Students of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur did not attend classes and their protest was backed the faculty. Students of IIM-Indore would hold a candle-light protest rally to oppose the Centre's decision to introduce reservations in Government-aided educational institutions.

Services at Delhi hospitals like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Maulana Azad Medical College and Bara Hindu Rao Hospital were not affected as consultants and faculty members attended to patients.

"We had drawn up contingency plans. All services and facilities are functioning normally," AIIMS spokesperson Shakti Gupta said.