India cracks down on protesters as thousands take to the streets

Indian authorities deployed a sweeping security crackdown across New Delhi and detained thousands of protesters Saturday.

This as India's youth "Cockroach" movement sought to intensify a nationwide campaign against contentious voter list revision that has fuelled anger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu

nationalist government and election authorities.

Protesters and paramilitary personnel run toward each other on the streets of New Delhi.

Police breaking up the demonstration before it could begin, intercepting demonstrators on their way to Jantar Mantar the designated protest site in the heart of India's capital

chasing off some and detaining many others.

Some were dragged away before being bundled into police vehicles and taken to temporary detention centres.

Some of the "Cockroach" movement leaders, opposition lawmakers and student activists were detained before arriving, in a bid to cripple the protest ahead of its start.

The crackdown extended beyond the protest venue with police stopping buses, cars and other vehicles at checkpoints on routes into the capital and searching for demonstrators.

Janta Mantar was barricaded while anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear gas launchers were stationed along key routes.

Restrictions on mobile internet and access to parts of the city added to the hurdles facing protesters.

Police said Friday they had denied permission for the protest because the request was submitted late.

The scale of the crackdown underscored the authorities determination to disrupt a fast-growing protest campaign that has mobilised thousands of young people, drawn opposition support

and intensified scrutiny of Modi.

The protests come at a politically sensitive time, months after demonstrations led by the "Cockroach" movement over exam paper leaks forced Modi's education minister to resign in July.