On the morning of December 19, people gathered near Lal Quila to march peacefully towards Shaheed Park near ITO. The march was against the recently passed Citizenship (Amendment) Act – one of many organised across the country.Under the Act, people from six non-Muslim communities from three neighbouring countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh – can be granted Indian citizenship if the came to India in or before 2014. It has been widely criticised as being communal and discriminatory, particularly when seen in conjunction with the Narendra Modi government’s proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens.One of the placards read, “India is not your father’s property”.Another one read, roughly translated, “Improve the economy instead of dividing citizens”.Even before the protests began, Section 144 was imposed in the Red Fort area and nearby metros were closed on the directions of the Delhi police.There was heavy police presence in the area.The road going towards Daryaganj was blocked.Police officials kept announcing, “Please don’t gather in groups. You will be detained.”Soon after the protest began, the police started detaining protesters and filling them in buses. Almost eight buses were filled and all protesters dispersed. Media personnel were also stopped from entering the area.Police detaining a protester.Police detaining an elderly protester.A student protester being detained.A detainee in the bus, showing his placard.Meanwhile, on the other side of the protest, near Chandni Chowk, a woman holding a placard challenged the police.She said she did not come under Section 144 as she was one woman standing alone with a placard. The police detained her anyway.The police detaining the woman.In the meanwhile, people from shops and homes in the surrounding areas emerged to see what was happening.The police asked them to go back to what they were doing and not join the protest. They threatened to detain the bystanders as well, if they did not leave.An elderly protester said, “The police is trying to curb all dissent. What’s their logic of not allowing a peaceful march to happen?”Finally, all the buses with detained protesters left the area and the remaining crowd was dispersed by 12:30 pm. There were about eight buses in total.Yogendra Yadav, former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid and ex-JNU students’ union presidents N. Sai Balaji and Mohit Pandey were among the protesters.All images by Ismat Ara.