The Metro stations have been shut to prevent people from getting to protest venues. (Representational)
The Delhi Metro has reopened a majority of the 20 stations it shut on Thursday afternoon as thousands of people gathered at various venues across the city to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act, defying massive police deployment and imposition of a ban on large gatherings.
As many as 18 Metro stations, including Rajiv Chowk and Chandni Chowk, were reopened by evening. The only ones still closed were the Jamia Millia Islamia and Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh stations.
Road traffic was also greatly affected through the day, with vehicular movement slowing to a crawl as the authorities barricaded roads, imposed traffic restrictions and suspended Internet services to clamp down on planned protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The Delhi-Gurgaon border was among the worst affected.
The police imposed a ban on large gatherings under Section 144 of the CrPC near Red Fort in central Delhi, the starting point of one of the proposed rallies, and many protesters who came there were subsequently detained.
Various student groups, political parties and rights activists have come out in protest against the controversial law, which aims to expedite citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. While protesters in the Northeast claim that it will open the floodgates for illegal migrants into the region, those in other parts of the country have denounced it as "discriminatory".
(With inputs from IANS)