PATNA, July 24 -- Student protests against the NEET paper leak and for the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan continued for the second day on Thursday across several Bihar cities, with some places reporting incidents of stone-pelting and even firing in the air. This followed a massive student agitation in Patna the previous day, supported by AISA, during which policemen were injured and vehicles belonging to several MLAs and top leaders were damaged. A large number of students were also arrested. In Jehanabad, near capital Patna, a protests led by students turned violent as protesters marched towards the residence of the District Magistrate (DM) and tried to encircle him, raising their demands. Police tried to stop them and the situation turned tense and soon clashed between police and protesters ensued. Protesters were reported to have resorted to stone-pelting. Police resorted to lathicharge and fired in the air to control the situation. Several rounds were fired, reports and witnesses said. After this,there was a panic in the area and people started running away. Later, protesters reached Arwal Mor and blocked the main road. When the police arrived there, the protestors moved towards the Hospital Mor. As a result, the traffic on the main roads of the city was affected. Tension prevailed on the Jehanabad town due to the protest till the filing of the report, police were monitoring the situation and urging people to maintain calm. Commenting on the reports of firing, Magadh range IG Vikash Vaibhav said that the police had to fire in the air in self-defence after protesters hurled stones towards police personnel. "Nobody was injured. We are closely monitoring the situation," the IG said. A video of police firing also went viral on social media. In Darbhanga, several thousand students from different student bodies marched from Karpoori Chowk to the district headquarters, demanding the resignation of the Union education minister. The march concluded without any untoward incident, but the situation deteriorated while the protesters were returning through Laheriasarai's Lohiya Chowk, where some people in the crowd allegedly began throwing stones at police personnel. Some participants accused certain "anti-social" elements, disguised as students, of entering the march and pelting stones at the police, though this was not verified. District magistrate Kaushal Kumar and senior superintendent of police Jagunath Raddi rushed to the spot with other senior officials and supervised the law-and-order operation. The district magistrate said the violence broke out during the return march when a section in the crowd suddenly attacked the police deployment with stones. "Those who organised the demonstration were responsible for ensuring it remained peaceful. Appropriate action will be taken against them," he said. Congress district media in-charge Mohd Aslam said in a social media post that the protest was not officially organised by the party after reports emerged that Darbhanga deputy mayor and Congress leader Nazia Hasan had appealed to students to march. Aman Kumar, a NEET aspirant who participated in the march, claimed that the protest concluded peacefully and that "10 to 15 youths suddenly entered the crowd during the return march and started pelting stones." He alleged they did not appear to be students. SSP Jagunath Raddi said a few police personnel suffered injuries in the stone-pelting and that several suspects had been detained, although the exact number was yet to be ascertained....