Imphal, August 29: Nursing students of different institutions joined the protest against the continued imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the State and took out rallies and tried to lodge their protests at the gate of the Raj Bhawan and the CM's gate today.

Students of Porompat Nursing Institute left their class rooms and proceeded towards the Raj Bhawan today at about 1 pm, raising slogans against the imposition of the Act.

Police personnel deployed near the Raj Bhawan however managed to stop them from proceeding onwards and dispersed them.

At about 1.30 pm, students of Nightingale Nursing Institute and Ching Tam Nursing Institute jointly took out a rally and attempted to proceed towards the gate of the CM's official residence.

The students carried placards emblazoned with the words "Remove black laws from Manipur," and raised slogans demanding the revocation of the AFSPA from the State.

The students were however stopped by police personnel and herded inside a jeep before they were driven away.

Students from Royal Nursing Institute also tried to converge at Raj Bhawan gate to protest.

It took more than 30 minutes for the police to herd the students onto a security bus and drive them off.

Despite being a Sunday, all the students, significantly were attired in their uniform.

On August 25, the Government had declared a holiday for all educational institutions to foil the attempt of the students to surrender their text books to the Government as part of the ongoing agitation to demand the complete revocation of the AFSPA from Manipur.

Lup poohs-poohs Patil's proposed visit: Deriding the proposed visit of Union Home Shivraj Patil to the State on September 5, the Working Committee of the Apunba Lup today categorically stated that the people's movement has reached the point of no return and reminded all that the Minister has deemed it fit to visit the State after nearly 50 days of the unrest which erupted on July 12.Such an attitude is ample testimony of the way in which the Government of India views the people of the State, said the Lup in a statement and added that if the Home Minister fails to address the grievances of the people and does not comply with the demand to the revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the State, then no other Indian political leaders will be allowed to set foot on Manipur again, it warned.

Training its guns on the Ministers and MLAs, the Lup said the remark of Information Minister Gaikhangam, who said, "Where there is a beginning, there should be an end," exposes his lack of understanding the sentiments of the people.

On the contention that the poor and needy have suffered a lot since the protest began, the Lup coun- tered that the people of Manipur have been suffering under AFSPA for over 40 years and this suffering is nothing compared to the inconveniences right now.

Picking out Ph Parijat, the Lup said that after Dr Nara, the Communist leader is now high on the target of the people and added that today it is not only the Minister but also his family members who will need security cover for trying to insult the movement of the people.

Cracking down on the protestors and booking them under the NSA will not quell the people's movement, said the statement and added that not only the protestors but even other family members have been assaulted by the police and their houses ransacked.

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