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The Occupy UGC protests on Wednesday turned quite brutal with bloody images of the protesting students emerging on social media. While the students at the protests claim the police beat them up with batons without any provocation, the Delhi police has maintained that they reacted once the students started pelting stones at them. Many students were detained by the police and several others hospitalised following baton attacks, water cannons and tear gas shells.

In the video above from a Youtube channel named Media Collective we can see the police charge at the students, some of whom retaliated. There are no visuals here of stone- pelting. The area of Lutyens Delhi where the clashes took place is not exactly strewn with convenient pebbles or rocks.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal was quoted by The Indian Express as saying, “The force was used to stop them from marching towards Parliament. The scheduled path was ITO via Barakhamba Road to Jantar Mantar. But as the protesters reached Mandi House, they started running towards Firoze Shah Road. We tried to stop them at the Le Meridien roundabout, where they turned violent and attacked police officials.”

Students insist that their march was peaceful. Sucheta De, national president of the All India Students’ Association, told Scroll.in, "All our pleas for a peaceful march fell on deaf ears as the police were hell-bent on stopping and attacking us."

Wednesday’s violence is not the first time the Occupy UGC protesters have faced violence from the Delhi police. Following the UGC's decision to slash non-NET fellowships on October 7, there have two more incidents of police force being used against the students. First on October 27, and then on November 18, when around 40 students were detained.

The students have been protesting for the last 51 days now against the plan of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to restructure (read: remove) non-NET fellowships given to thousands of students across many central universities. The campaign is also asking for fellowship stipends to be indexed to inflation and for an end to further funding cuts to research institutions and projects.

Wednesday's protests were called by the All India Students’ Association specifically against the upcoming ministerial summit of the World Trade Organisation in Nairobi, Kenya, where the Indian government is expected to participate in negotiations on opening up the education sector to foreign players.