At least 14 people have now died and more than 4,000 have been arrested following further protests across India against a new citizenship law.

It applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in the country illegally, but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan - but it does not apply to Muslims.

Image: Demonstrators offer prayers on a road during a protest in Allahabad

Critics say it is a violation of India's secular constitution and the latest effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government to marginalise India's 200 million Muslims.

Mr Modi has defended it as a humanitarian measure.

The victims were killed across the country - five in Assam, four in Uttar Pradesh - in the northeast and north of the country respectively - while two died in southern Karnataka state.


Image: Riot police officers patrol after a protest in Delhi

Police have banned public gatherings in parts of the country's capital, New Delhi, and other cities for a third day and cut internet services in an attempt to stop the demonstrations.

But campaigners defied the ban, with thousands standing inside and on the steps of New Delhi's Jama Masijd - one of India's largest mosques - following Friday afternoon prayers.

They waved Indian flags and shouted slogans against the government.

Image: Demonstrators expressed their anger after Friday prayers at Jama Masjid in the old quarters of Delhi

Police had also banned a proposed march from the mosque to an area near India's parliament, and a large number of officers were waiting outside the mosque.

Officers sprayed protesters with water cannon to prevent them from marching towards a monument in central Delhi where campaigners have been gathering, around two miles away.

An estimated 10,000 people protested outside New Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University - where at the weekend clashes took place in which students accused police of using excessive force.

Image: Protesters pelt stones at police during clashes in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh

They collected signatures for a petition demanding the new law be scrapped.

Violence has broken out in several towns in northern Uttar Pradesh state where police posts and vehicles were set on fire and rocks hurled at security forces.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to try and disperse people in various cities.

It is also claimed surveillance video shows officers entering a hospital in the southern city of Mangalore on Thursday night and using batons to disperse protesters who had taken shelter inside.

The footage shows two policemen trying to kick open a ward door and some people wearing masks running in a corridor.

Image: The protests are against a law that does not allow Muslim migrants to claim Indian citizenship

Authorities say more than 100 people had been arrested and 3,305 detained since Thursday.

Police temporarily held 1,200 protesters in New Delhi and hundreds of others in other cities - but most were released later in the day.