Lawyers went on a rampage in Uttar Pradesh on Friday to protest a lathi charge on them, clashing with police and damaging vehicles in Lucknow and this city and vandalising the district collectorate in Varanasi.      

The lawyers also struck work and demanded immediate action against those involved in the police action.    

They then headed to the main gate of the Allahabad High Court premises facing GT road and staged a sit-in, leading to traffic snarls, and also pelted a police patrol with stones.

After each round of stone-pelting, they would retreat to the court premises and avoid a direct confrontation with the policemen as no security personnel other than the Central Reserve Police Force deployed for protection of the court are allowed to enter the compound.

Chief Justice Hemant Laxman Gokhle, who was monitoring the situation from the rooftop, said he would conduct an inquiry into the incident and take 'necessary action.'

In Lucknow, advocates of the local bench of the high court and sub-ordinate courts threw stones at police officials and torched some vehicles near the district court.

An election campaign vehicle and some government cars were also set ablaze by lawyers demanding suspension of the Allahabad district magistrate and police chief. Advocates in Varanasi damaged a vehicle, smashed flower pots in the district collectorate brickbatted a magistrate's vehicle, police said adding that the lawyers also tried to 'push and shove' some policemen on duty there.

Lawyers also boycotted work in Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi, Kanpur, Etah, Faizabad and Basti as part of the state-wide stir.