New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday (November 11) resorted to using water cannons on students and members of the Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU), who staged a protest outside the varsity campus over a reported fee hike and the hostel draft manual.

Thousands of students staged a massive protest outside the Jawaharlal Nehru University against the administration’s anti-student policy.

The gates of the AICTE, around 3 km from the JNU, were locked and the security personnel were stationed in and outside the premises in the wake of the protests that started in the morning.

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 JNU at Baba Balaknath Marg, near the traffic signal, underneath the flyover and near the venue, an officer said.

But students broke these barricades and marched towards the venue around 11.30 am. The police said some of the protesters have been detained. With placards in their hands, the students were beating tambourine and raising slogans like "Delhi Police Go Back" and calling vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar a "thief".

Also Read: JNU Protest: Agitated students turn violent 

Students wanted to meet the vice chancellor and demand withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, which they claimed has provisions for fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.

The protest is part of the agitation against the hostel manual and several other issues like restrictions by the administration on entry to the Parthasarathy Rocks, attempts to lock students' union office, according to the students.

The students' union has been on a strike against the draft hostel manual, which was approved by the inter-hall administration. They have said the strike would not end until the hostel manual is withdrawn.