New Delhi: Shouting slogans and raising banners, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students clashed with police today outside the campus as they raised their voices against the administration’s “anti-student” policy.
The protests started in the morning and escalated as the day progressed with angry crowds of students pushing against police personnel in anti-riot gear.
The students wanted to march to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) auditorium, about three kilometres away from the campus in south Delhi, where Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was addressing the university’s convocation. But they were stopped a short distance away.
Barricades were placed outside the north and west gates of the JNU campus, as well as on the route between the AICTE auditorium and the university at Baba Balaknath Marg and in nearby areas, a police officer said.
The angry students raised slogans such as “Delhi Police Go Back” and called Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala a “thief”.
The students are demanding withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, which they claimed has provisions for fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.
Traffic came to a standstill around the area as JNU students were back in the news.