Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

Much of Delhi has looked like a city under siege today, with roads barricaded and offices, shops and restaurants shut, even as the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) march to Jantar Mantar was largely thwarted.

The day began with expectations of a major gathering at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi. But only a handful of protesters managed to reach the site before police swiftly removed them.

The road that the CJP had occupied during protests earlier this summer remained barricaded at both ends, guarded by thousands of police and paramilitary personnel. The deployment continued through the day, but little happened at the site.

Elsewhere in the city, all of the CJP’s senior leaders were detained on a plane as they arrived in Delhi. Student leader Neha Bora and other activists who tried to march from Dilli Haat to Jantar Mantar were also stopped and taken away.

Police have so far declined to provide a figure for the number of people detained. But a few hundred protesters, including dozens of lawyers, have been detained, according to our reporting.

One woman who managed to evade the police and reach Connaught Place told us: “In a democracy, everyone has the right to protest and to say if we are not happy.

"Peaceful protests have been there for ages. We are not living in pre-independent India. We request the government to let us protest.”

Our live coverage is ending here - thanks for joining us. You can read more in our news story.

Image source, EPA

The leaders of India's "cockroach" movement have been detained along with other prominent opposition figures as authorities in Delhi attempt to crack down on a large protest in the city.

Thousands of police and paramilitaries have been deployed, with barricades in place and metro stations closed to try and prevent the unauthorised demonstration from coalescing around the planned protest site - an opposition MP says India's capital has been turned into a "fortress".

The authorities say the protest is illegal, arguing the group sought permission too late, and that the last time the Cockroach Janta Party was allowed to hold a one-day demonstration it went on for weeks.

Police have not confirmed the names or number of people detained.

But our reporters on the ground say they have seen buses packed with detainees, and many opposition figures have condemned the government's response.

The protesters want India's chief election commissioner to resign, saying he is using his powers to favour the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party - allegations he denies.

We've been explaining the context throughout our coverage:

• Who is the protest leader Abhijeet Dipke?
• What is the Cockroach Janta Party?
• What are the protesters demanding?
• Why are these protests a big deal?

We're shortly closing our live coverage - in our next post we'll have more from our reporter on the ground, who explains what she witnessed in Delhi throughout the day.

Image source, EPA

India' opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed his support for protesters, saying he is proud of them and urging them to "keep protesting".

In a post on social media, the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) leader says he has been fighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for more than a decade.

Gandhi says he knows his opponents well. "The core characteristic of these people is cowardice," he says.

He adds Modi can call out all the police and arrest everyone, but they are "not going to back down".

"Youth of India, I am proud of you. Keep protesting. We are standing with you. We are going to ensure that this regime and the people who have attacked our Constitution are defeated," the leader writes.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

It’s tea time for security personnel at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. They say they have been deployed here since 05:00 local time and have no idea when their working day will end.

With most of the Cockroach Janta Party leadership in detention and protesters unable to reach Jantar Mantar, however, the day has not been particularly taxing.

Many personnel have now split into smaller groups and are sitting on the lawns of a nearby roundabout.

In Delhi, protesters are continuing to be met by a heavy police and paramilitary presence.

Our reporter on the ground describes seeing a number of police buses taking away detainees, who can be heard shouting from the windows.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk says he will consider launching another hunger strike or a padayatra (peace march) if the government does not release all detained protesters within 24 hours.

In a video posted on X, Wangchuk - who was on a 26-day hunger strike during the first wave of the cockroach protests in July - condemned the crackdown in Delhi and described the situation as resembling an "undeclared Emergency", referring to the Emergency imposed in India in the 1970s, when civil liberties and rights were suspended.

"If the people are not released in the next 24 hours, I will be forced to consider peaceful means of protest - be it a sit-in, a hunger strike or a peaceful march, in Delhi or Leh," he says.

He adds that he hopes the government will resolve the matter through dialogue and that such steps would not be necessary.

Wangchuk's presence during the first Cockroach Janta Party protest had galvanised support for the movement.

He was forcibly taken to hospital on the 20th day of his fast, sparking anger and prompting a wave of popular support. He continued his fast for a few more days before ending it.

Mamata Banerjee, the former chief minister of India’s West Bengal state, says she along with four other lawmakers of her party have begun a sit-in protest at Delhi’s Dwarka North police station.

In a video posted on X, Banerjee accuses the police of “kidnapping” them and says they were been driven around in a van for two hours.

Banerjee says she would join another march to be held by the opposition INDIA bloc on Monday in protest against the day’s events.

As we reported earlier, she was detained in Delhi's South Avenue alongside other members of her Trinamool Congress Party, and is now nearly 30km (18.6 miles) from where they were picked up.

Image source, Reuters

What is the Cockroach Janta Party? Not an official political party, the group started as an internet joke but has become a mass protest movement in India.

It gets its name from a comment by Chief Justice Surya Kant, who in May allegedly compared some unemployed young people to cockroaches - he says the remark was taken out of context, and that he was describing people obtaining work with fake degrees.

Who is Abhijeet Dipke? He was a little-known 30-year-old who had previously worked with the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but was studying in Boston, US, in May, when he posted online: "What if all cockroaches come together?" in response to a comment from India's Chief Justice.

The post went viral, prompting the start of the initially satirical movement.

Why is the government so concerned: The CJP has grown rapidly online and shown it can convert that energy into real-world action - a five-week-long protest organised by the group over the summer led to the resignation of the then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

What is today's protest about? The CJP is calling for the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Under his leadership, India's election commission has been updating electoral rolls - it says this is a routine exercise to weed out dead, duplicate or ineligible voters.

But millions say their names are now missing from the electoral roll. The CJP and opposition parties accuse Kumar of favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party - accusations the party and the Election Commission denies.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

We’ve just been to Connaught Place, considered the heart of Delhi, where we saw hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel deployed at a single street corner.

We saw a number of police buses, with thick mesh net over windows, taking away detainees. As one bus passed us, we couldn’t see who were inside but we heard them shouting slogans against the government and Prime Minister Modi.

We asked a senior police official for his comments on how the day had gone, but he turned away and walked off. Another police official refused to comment, saying he was too junior to say anything.

Three of India's most prominent opposition politicians have been detained by police as protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar continue in Delhi.

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan were detained separately while marching towards Jantar Mantar with supporters of their respective parties, according to posts on X.

Vijayan shared a video of his detention, accusing the authorities of using heavy-handed tactics and calling it an attack on democratic rights. "We will not be intimidated," he said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted a video appearing to show his party's chief, Arvind Kejriwal, being detained, accusing police of manhandling him.

Earlier in the day, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was also detained.

Image source, EPA

It’s been more than four hours since India’s Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) said its leaders, including founder Abhijeet Dipke, had been detained at Delhi airport on their way to a protest march in the city. We still don’t know where they are.

Here’s what’s been happening since then:

• More prominent figures have been detained following further calls for protests: they include student activist Neha Bora, economist Jean Drèze and opposition leader Mamata Banerjee
• The protesters had planned to gather at Jantar Mantar, but have moved to other parts of Delhi as police heavily guard the area
• “If Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar,” Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP’s newly designated leader, tells protesters
• Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party describes today’s developments as “a few anarchist forces” trying to “hold India captive”.

Here’s more background to read:

• Who is Abhijeet Dipke?
• What is the Cockroach Janta Party?
• What are the protesters demanding?
• Why are these protests a big deal?

Delhi has been heavily barricaded this morning with our reporter on the ground describing hundreds of people being detained and "buses packed with detainees".

The new designated leader of the Cockroach Janta Party has recently urged supporters to keep marching to the well-guarded Jantar Mantar site in the capital but, as these photos show, many protesters are being met with a heavy police presence.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Pavan Kanth Digavalli
BBC News Telugu

Some protesters who had been sheltering in one of Delhi’s most prominent Sikh places of worship, the Bangla Sahib gurdwara, alleged they were baton-charged and forced into buses by security personnel as they tried to march towards Jantar Mantar.

Delhi Police has not publicly commented on the number of people detained during the day.

Image source, Areeba Ansari

“Since morning, we have been trying to march towards Jantar Mantar, but police are not allowing us to proceed. We were baton-charged some time ago as well,” said Ajay Zingade, a software engineer from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, roads leading to the gurdwara have been heavily barricaded, with a large security deployment in the area.

Despite the crackdown, protesters say they are undeterred and will continue trying to reach Jantar Mantar.

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Indian MP and former senior UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor has called the "war-like deployment" of police and "paramilitary" in Delhi "shameful".

"I returned to the national capital after 2am and have rarely seen anything like what Delhi is witnessing now," he said in a message on social media.

"Freedom of movement stands completely shackled," Tharoor posted. This was being done, he said, "to prevent citizens from peacefully raising questions about the integrity of our elections".

"Most regressive (as well as repressive)," he said, "is the suspension of the internet in the heart of the national capital."

He further said that a government that "turns its capital into a fortress" to "avoid" questions about the fairness of elections "only deepens the very suspicions it seeks to suppress".

"Barricades will do nothing to restore faith in the Election Commission," he said and "the sooner it answers the public's questions, the sooner calm will be restored".

The CJP has just posted a video asking its supporters to march to Jantar Mantar.

"If Delhi Police tries to stop you, wherever they stop you will become your Jantar Mantar," Ajinkya Shinde, the CJP's new designated leader, said in the video.

This is similar to activist Neha Bora's appeal to people to protest where they are stopped. It looks like we might witness smaller protests in different locations around Delhi, rather than the big one planned at Jantar Mantar. We'll keep you posted.

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

It's Saturday afternoon at Delhi's famous Janpath Market, usually one of the busiest times of the week. But today, there's barely anyone around.

This is normally where tourists and locals come to bargain for colourful clothes, jewellery, bags, handicrafts and souvenirs. The narrow lanes are usually packed with shoppers and street vendors.

Instead, we're met by massive metal barricades and rows of police officers. The whole area has an almost lockdown-like feel.

We walk up to the police and ask if we can go inside. They refuse, even after we show them our press passes.

It's not just journalists being turned away. One disappointed tourist tells me: "I wish I'd done my shopping yesterday. Now I won't be able to."

It's a striking scene in one of Delhi's most popular markets, as the heavy security restrictions surrounding today's planned protest bring parts of the capital to a near standstill.

Student activist Neha Bora, who has been detained by Delhi Police, has urged people to gather at the Safdarjung flyover, a key transit point in the capital, and hold a sit-in protest.

“I am in detention. The movement is not,” Bora wrote in a post on X. "If you can, reach. If you are stopped, sit down where you are and hold the line."

It's not clear where Bora, who uses they/them pronouns, was posting from.

Mamata Banerjee, the former chief minister of India’s West Bengal state, has been detained by the police in Delhi’s South Avenue along with other leaders of her Trinamool Congress party, PTI news agency has reported.

The opposition leaders had staged a sit-in protest earlier in the day after they were stopped from marching towards central Delhi, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

South Avenue is about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) from Jantar Mantar, the proposed venue for a separate protest by the Cockroach Janta Party.

Image source, Getty Images

Geeta Pandey
Reporting from Delhi

Journalists had gathered near Jantar Mantar at the start of the day to cover the protest, but most left hours later, saying they did not expect much to happen there.

By the time we left the area, police and paramilitary personnel were still on guard. Many were sitting in patches of shade, while some had gathered in small groups to chat.

The large numbers of protesters who were expected to march to Jantar Mantar had been unable to get anywhere close, but security personnel remained on alert.

Police have also been detaining protestors from different parts of the city even as hundreds continue to try and reach central Delhi.

Raghvendra Rao
BBC Hindi, reporting from Jantar Mantar

All roads leading to Jantar Mantar remain heavily barricaded.

A short while ago, prominent economist Jean Drèze arrived near the protest site and tried to stage a sit-in a few metres away, holding up a poster.

As soon as he started the protest, around seven to eight police personnel picked him up and removed him from the area. He was then put on a bus and taken away.

Some female protesters accompanying him were also detained and taken away in the same bus.

Image source, Prabhat Kumar/BBC Hindi