Students aligned with main opposition party Nepali Congress, Nepal Students Union (NSU), clashed with police at Damauli, Tanahun district on Tuesday.

The students organised a torch rally in protest against the hike in price of petroleum products and the release of murder convict Bal Krishna Dhungel.

The clash broke out when the mass rally that began from Nepali Congress office reached Mainchok and converted into a corner meeting.

According to NSU spokesperson Hari Khanal, NSU district chairman Chundamani Khanal, secretary Bimal Giri, regional president Suman Thapa Magar and former central member Laxmi Bhakta Khanal were injured in the clash. He said the students were chanting slogans against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The situation became tense briefly at Damauli Bazaar following the clash. The agitating students also burnt an effigy of PM Oli.

But the police claimed that no one was injured in the clash. SP Siddhi Bikram Shah said there was only minor skirmish when the police tried to snatch torches from the protestors.

Erstwhile CPN (Maoist Center) leader Balkrishna Dhungel, a convict for the 1998 murder of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga, was released from Dillibazaar prison after receiving Presidential Pardon on May 29.