NEW DELHI: Accusing the Government of trying to brainwash them with false assurances, medical students in the Capital protesting against the Government's proposal to extend reservation to the Other Backward Classes in institutes of higher learning said on Wednesday that they would not call off their strike till their demand for an independent judicial commission was met.

Describing the setting of a committee by the Government as an attempt to mislead them, the students said the hunger strike would continue until a non-political commission was put in place. Also, undeterred by the termination notices sent to all striking doctors, the protesting students and resident doctors burnt the letters in a bonfire and said they were ready to face the consequences.

"If the Government wants to sack 3,000 to 4,000 doctors it can. It will affect the medical system and the patients as much as us. Our future is anyway bleak if the Government goes ahead with its proposal," said a student.

On a day of much drama at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), supporters of the Pro-Reservation Front made an attempt to enter the campus at around noon but were stopped by the police. At least one person was seriously injured in the clash between supporters of reservation and the police.

"Most of those who came here to protest were not students. We just made a human chain to ensure that none of them got through to those sitting on a hunger strike," said an AIIMS student.

For its part, the Pro-Reservation Front demanded that it should also be allowed to hold a dharna inside the AIIMS premises and criticised the police for treating its supporters "like criminals."

At least 10 students currently on hunger strike were admitted to the emergency ward after their condition worsened.

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