Hundreds of have been detained in India for defying a ban on protests against the controversial new citizenship law.
The ban has been imposed in parts of the capital Delhi, Uttar Pradesh state, and some areas of Karnataka state, including the city of Bangalore, reports the BBC.
It comes after days of protests across India, some of which turned violent as demonstrators and police clashed.


Among those detained are Ramachandra Guha, a prominent historian and outspoken critic of the government, in Bangalore; and political activist in Yogendra Yadav in Delhi, says the BBC.
The police asked people to stay away from protests and prohibited more than four people from gathering in a place. Officials say the ban has been imposed to avoid violence.
Meanwhile, permission for marches, rallies and any form of demonstration have been denied in other places such as Chennai.
Despite the ban, protests appear to be continuing as planned in Uttar Pradesh, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi - civil society groups, political parties, students, activists and ordinary citizens have taken to social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter asking people to turn up and protest peacefully.
Police have also put up barricades on a major highway connecting Delhi and the city of Jaipur and checking all vehicles entering the capital.
This has led to a massive gridlock and many commuters have missed their flights.
According to BBC a number of metro stations in Delhi have also been shut.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government says the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is intended to address the persecution of non-Muslim minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, reports Reuters.
Those groups, many of whom have been languishing in India for years without rights, will now get an automatic path to Indian nationality if they came from these three countries before 2015.
India's Supreme Court turned down a plea on Wednesday to halt implementation of the law but said it would hold hearings next month on the sweeping measure, which critics have described as anti-Muslim.
Protesters say the exclusion of Muslims betrays a deep-seated bias against the community, which makes up 14 percent of India's population, and that the law is the latest move in a series by the Hindu nationalist government to marginalise them.
With more demonstrations likely, authorities in the southern state of Karnataka have moved to ban large public gatherings in at least three major cities, a police official said.
The restrictions came into force on Thursday morning, including in the state capital Bengaluru where offices of dozens of multinational companies including Walmart Inc's Flipkart, Uber, Infosys and Wipro, are based.
"People are using this opportunity to create problems and we want to keep Bengaluru peaceful," police officer Umesh Kumar told Reuters.
Similar restrictions will also be imposed in Lucknow, capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, to head off protests, a local official said.
At a news conference with his Indian counterpart, .S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said Washington cares deeply about protecting religious rights everywhere, but gave a muted answer on the issue. "We honor Indian democracy as they have a robust debate inside India on the issue," he said.
Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar repeated the government's line that it was a measure designed to address the needs of persecuted religious minorities.
'SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS'
The new measure follows the revocation of the special status of India's Muslim-majority Kashmir region and a court ruling clearing the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque razed by Hindu zealots.
At a protest in front of New Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia university, which was stormed by police on Sunday night, leaving 200 students injured, 70-year old Fasiur Rehman accused Modi's administration of targeting Muslims.
"This government wants to turn us into second-class citizens," he said, as several hundred protesters around him raised slogans, held up banners, and waved the Indian flag.
On Wednesday, police fired shots in the air in a Muslim-dominated part of Delhi to repel thousands of demonstrators throwing stones and glass bottles, demanding the law be withdrawn.
In the northeastern state of Assam, which has seen some of the most violent protests against the CAA, thousands of people came out on the streets of several cities on Wednesday.
"We shall continue with our agitation till we get a favourable response from the Supreme Court," said Samujjal Bhattacharya of the All Assam Students' Union.
In West Bengal state, where some protests have also turned violent, four people were injured in scuffles in the Uttar Dinajpur district after a procession against the CAA, local official Arvind Meena said.
(The report has been compiled with inputs from BBC and Reuters).