Student protests demanding that the Bihar School Examination Board re-check the Intermediate answer sheets show no signs of dying down, and on Wednesday police clashed with agitators who had blocked a key road in the heart of Patna.

Eight Left-backed student unions, including the All India Students' Federation (AISF), the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO), are on a hunger strike in front of the board office at Buddha Marg from June 12.

They say the board's response to the shocking Intermediate results in which eight lakh students failed - scrutiny (re-totalling of marks) and leeway in compartmental examinations - are an eyewash.

On Tuesday night, two youths on hunger strike, (Raj Kumar and Raushan Kumar, were rushed to the New Gardiner hospital at Income Tax roundabout. Sources said the two were discharged after they were administered saline and other medicines.

Irked over the lack of response from the government and the board to their demands, more than 100 students from eight unions on Wednesday staged a road blockade near the Income Tax roundabout around 11am. It threw traffic haywire.

With long queues of vehicles stranded on both sides of Bailey Road, commuters could not to move.

The worst-affected were the office goers and businessmen.Ranjeet Rai, who owns a mobile phone shop at Bakerganj, had to wait for more than 20 minutes on his two-wheeler while crossing the road.

"You can imagine the problem commuters are facing while crossing the road," he said. "It's very hot and humid and the road blockade is only adding to the commuters' woes."

The Kotwali police rushed to the spot and the cops had a tough time getting the protesters to lift the blockade.

They had to lathicharge the agitators, and a few youths were injured. Pushpendra Pranay, the district president of All India Students' Federation (AISF), said: "We were blocking the road peacefully but the police reached the spot and without any warning resorted to lathicharge injuring more than half-a-dozen members."

Pranay said their leader and AISF state general secretary Sushil Kumar was injured on his hand. Sushil is undergoing treatment at Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in Rajvanshi Nagar.

Pranay claimed male policemen misbehaved with women protesters.

However, the Kotwali police denied the allegations.

"Reports about male policemen misbehaving with women protesters are not true," said Ram Shankar Singh, the Kotwali police station house officer. "Female cops lifted the women protesters sitting on the road."

The student bodies have decided to intensify their agitation and scheduled a meeting on Wednesday evening to chalk out the way forward.

The scrutiny of Intermediate copies is on. The board has received around 3.40 lakh copies for scrutiny and completed the process for around 50 lakh copies between June 9 and 13.