Lucknow, July 16 - Congress party workers, protesting the arrest of state party unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, clashed with the police here Thursday and about 150 were arrested.

Shouting anti-government slogans, activists converged at the party headquarters in Mall Avenue of the state capital. They blocked roads while some attacked vehicles and damaged public property.

Agitated workers even chased out a team of policemen that entered the party's office in order to prevent the activists from burning the effigy of the chief minister.

'As Congress workers were adamant on carrying out the protests, we had no option left other than to arrest them,' Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Lucknow Prem Prakash told IANS.