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

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has described today's developments as "a few anarchist forces" trying to "hold India captive".

Sambit Patra, a BJP national spokesperson and MP, told reporters: "What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India's story."

"India is calm and going ahead under good governance," he said.

The spokesperson further said that "anarchists" trying to bring "arson" and "violence" to the capital have failed and that "the flop show of anarchist elements has completely collapsed".

Azadeh Moshiri
Reporting from central Delhi

Every few minutes, we see police officers surrounding a protester before taking them away. Buses packed with detainees keep pulling out, with people inside banging on the windows.

Over the loudspeakers, the same warning plays on repeat - an order under Section 163 is in force, giving police powers to prohibit gatherings in the area. Protesters are being told they cannot assemble here.

Police say the protest is illegal. They say permission was sought too late, and point to the last time the CJP was allowed to hold a one-day demonstration – which went on for weeks.

Image source, Prem Boominathan/BBC

“A protest is not a one-day carnival,” one protester tells me.

The CJP's top leaders are in detention, their whereabouts still unknown. The restrictions across the capital are among the most sweeping seen in recent years.

Whether or not Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resigns, one thing is clear - these protesters have struck a nerve.

Shrikant Bangale
BBC Marathi

We've just heard that the grandmother of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke has died, while he remains in police detention.

BBC Marathi's Shrikant Bangale spoke with Abhijeet Dipke's father Bhagwan Dipke.

"My mother - Abhijeet's grandmother - passed away at our ancestral home in Hingoli district. She was 78," he said.

Savitribai Shankar Dipke had been battling a prolonged illness in Santuk Pimpri village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, where the family has its roots.

It's unclear if Dipke has been informed about her death or whether he will be allowed to return home for her last rites.

The CJP leader was detained earlier today after arriving in Delhi for the planned protest. His whereabouts remain unclear.

Image source, UGC

Student activist Neha Bora has been detained near the Safdarjung airport flyover in south Delhi.

It comes after Bora called on protesters to gather at Dilli Haat, close to the flyover, saying: "Dilli Haat becomes our Jantar Mantar! Gyanesh Kumar must go!"

Local media outlet The Hindu has posted on social media that the bus carrying Bora and other detainees has been stopped by a crowd of protesters at the flyover.

Bora is one of the prominent faces of India’s student and youth protests.

Image source, Getty Images

Siddhanath Ganu
BBC Marathi

At the New Delhi Railway Station, I saw hundreds of people waiting at the platform after dozens of trains were reportedly cancelled with little notice.

The station is packed with travellers sitting, eating and even sleeping as they wait for updates on their journeys. Many say they arrived early to avoid disruption, but internet restrictions in the area mean they are unable to check train schedules.

Image source, Namdev Katkar/BBC Marathi

Among them is Manjeet Dua, who travelled from Bihar and reached Delhi early on Saturday for a job interview.

"I cannot take the metro, there were no buses available, and internet restrictions mean I cannot book a cab either," he says.

"I have nothing to do with the protest, but I still have to suffer."

Dua says he is camping at the station for now because he is worried about being stopped by police outside. "People are being detained, so I’ve decided to stay here until things are clear," he says.

Image source, Namdev Katkar/BBC Marathi

Image source, Getty Images

In Delhi, roads have been barricaded and tens of thousands of security personnel deployed in a bid to stop the latest Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) demonstration.

The group says its founder Abhijeet Dipke was detained, along with two other leaders, shortly after arriving in India's capital city from Mumbai. Authorities are yet to comment on the detentions.

As he boarded the flight to Delhi, Dipke had said: "If you think you can stop us by threatening us with jail or trying to intimidate us with the fear of imprisonment, you are mistaken."

He started the movement in May, almost as a joke, in response to a remark by India's Chief Justice Surya Kant, who had likened jobless youngsters to "cockroaches".

The CJP is demanding electoral reforms and the resignation of India's chief election commissioner over allegations of irregularities in voter lists - allegations the Election Commission denies.

Despite efforts to halt the protest, including Delhi police refusing permission for the demonstration, the CJP says it will go ahead at Jantar Mantar.

The BBC's Geeta Pandey, who is at the scene, describes police officers forming human chains, drones flying overhead and huge metal barricades. There is little sign of anyone being allowed anywhere near the protest site, she reports.

Some journalists have also reportedly faced police action. Indian news outlets Newslaundry and Scroll say their reporters were detained while covering events.