Thousands of protesters from an ethnic Indian group burned tyres and blocked roads leading to Delhi today in a battle over college and government job quotas.
Thousands of stick-wielding ethnic Gujjars shouted slogans and squatted on main roads on the borders of east and north Delhi. They threw stones at police and at places broke windshields of cars and buses.
Huge traffic jams formed on main roads leading into the capital, and some train services to towns outside Delhi, including several tourist destinations, were suspended.
The Gujjars, already considered a disadvantaged group, want to be reclassified further down the complex Hindu caste and status system so they qualify for government jobs and university seats reserved for such groups.
Demonstrations turned violent last week after protesters lynched a policeman and police fired on protesters, killing 36 of them in only a few days.
The government reserves about half of all seats in state colleges and universities for lower castes and tribal groups to flatten centuries-old social hierarchies.
The scheme has been criticised for accentuating caste identities in India, where discrimination on caste is banned in the constitution. Some critics say the quota system masks India's failure to provide good universal education and social equality.