A protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by a group of college students and private citizens elicited a violent response by police near Town Hall on Tuesday morning.

As a small group of about 30 students who appeared in front of Town Hall for a planned protest by various students around the city, found that the venue had been occupied by a large crowd from the Hadha Padha community shouting slogans.

Police began to violently push the students and a unit of women police bused them to move further down J C Road. When the students, joined by private citizens, began to resist police turned belligerent.

Five students detained under the orders of Inspector K S Tanveer Ahmed of SJ Park Police Station.