A large number of protestors gathered at the Jantar Mantar here on Thursday to protest the amended citizenship law after they were not allowed to demonstrate near the Red Fort and Mandi House where prohibitory orders have been imposed.

Left leaders including D Raja, Sitaram Yechury, Nilotpal Basu, Brinda Karat, Congress' Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit, and activists Yogendra Yadav and Umar Khalid were among those detained near the Red Fort and Mandi House where the two demonstrations were planned to be held.

As protestors started converging at the Jantar Mantar amid heavy deployment of security personnel, barricades were erected at the protest site to prevent them from moving further.

Senior police officials have appealed to students and activists to maintain peace. Police have also stationed water canons at the Jantar Mantar to deal with any situation.

Entry and exit gates of at least 18 Delhi Metro stations were shut while barricades were erected in large parts of south, east and north Delhi to check movement of protesters, triggering massive traffic snarls in large parts of the city.

In the area around the Red Fort, scores of protestors were dragged into buses by police in a bid to clear the area where Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed which restricts gathering of more than four people.

Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act resulted in huge traffic snarls across the national capital during the morning peak hours, while the Delhi-Gurgaon route remained in a gridlock as vehicles lined up for as long as 10 kms on the expressway connecting the two cities.