Lucknow, Sep 16 (IANS): Hundreds of Samajwadi Party (SP) activists clashed with police here in Uttar Pradesh Friday while protesting the hike in petrol prices, an official said.

Shouting slogans against the central government, SP activists took to the streets and converged in front of the state assembly, throwing the traffic out of gear in the busy Hazratganj locality.

"The repeated increase in the petrol prices indicates that the Congress-led central government doesn't care about the `aam aadmi' (common man)," said SP spokesperson in the state Rajendra Chaudhary.

Police had to use water cannons to disperse the protesters that also included the party's women activists.

"It's not the case of petrol only, the United Progressive Alliance has miserably failed to contain prices of other commodities too. The government has not done anything substantial that could provide relief to the public from the ever-rising inflation," added Chaudhary.

The Bharatiya Janata Party also staged demonstrations in parts of this state capital.

Petrol prices were hiked Thursday, for the 10th time since June 2010, by Rs.3.14 a litre effective from Friday.