IN PHOTOS: When India hit the streets to back Anna

India erupted in protest on Tuesday morning as soon as the news of Anna Hazare's arrest in Delhi broke out. Rediff.com presents comprehensive reports from across the country.

Assam

Several hundred protestors who hit the streets am on Tuesday against the arrest of veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare were detained by the police across Assam

At the premises of the Nationalist Congress Party office on the bank of Dighalipkukhuri river in the heart of Guwahati, about 500 leading citizens from different walks of life joined a hunger-strike. It was organised by the Assam chapter of 'India Against Corruption', demanding a stronger Jan Lokpal Bill.

A large number of protestors were arrested from Guwahati, Jorhat, Teok, Dibrugarh, Karimganj, Silchar, Tezpur and other parts of Assam while taking out protests in the wake of Anna's arrest.

Members of Gauhati High Court Bar Association and Guwahati Advocate Association also brought out two separate protest marches condemning the arrest of the veteran Gandhian leader.

With inputs from PTI

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Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday erupted in protest over the arrest of Anna Hazare by the Delhi police and hundreds of students and other members of the civil society came out on roads in Hyderabad, Visakhapatanam and other major cities across the state demanding his immediate release.

Hyderabad Tank Bund and Indira Park became the main points of protest where opposition Telugu Desam Party and India Against Corruption organised two separate programs.

At Indira Park more than hundred people, mostly students and youth, went on hunger strike in solidarity with Anna Hazare's indefinite fast.

As the news of the arrest of Hazare and his associates spread, the TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu along with hundreds of supporters came out in a big procession and marched from party office to Tank Bund shouting slogans against corruption and 'the undemocratic attitude of the central government.'

The sudden protest took the cops by surprise and threw the traffic out of gear at many places in the city. Addressing the Dharna, Naidu said that the fight against corruption was becoming a national movement as the people form all walks of life were coming out in support of Anna Hazare.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti also strongly condemned the arrest of Anna Hazare. Party's floor leader E Rajindar said that the government action had revived the memories of the dark days of Emergency.

In Bihar, hundreds of people took to the streets and staged dharnas in Patna and other districts on Tuesday to protest the arrest of Anna Hazare and his colleagues in Delhi.

"Police action will prove counter productive for the UPA government because a strong message has been spread that it was an attack on people's fundamental right to protest" Choudhary added.

Angry protestors burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and HRD minister Kapil Sibal in Patna.

Theatre activists have decided to tae out a candle march on Tuesday night in Patna.

The Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United and its ally BJP conducted separate protest marches in Patna.

Protests were held in many parts of Gujarat against the arrest of Anna Hazare on Tuesday with people sitting on dharnas, shouting slogans and some shopkeepers closing their outlets for the day.

In Surat, protests were held by the local ABVP members in different parts of the city. Some of the shops in Surat diamond market remained closed as mark of protest against the arrest of Hazare.

In Ahmedabad, sit-in demonstrations and slogan-shouting were held at Income Tax circle and near the Town Hall by volunteers of local NGOs, terming the arrest of Hazare as illegal and unconstitutional.

In Vadodara, former BJP leader Nalin Bhatt submitted a memorandum to the district collector while demonstrations were held in Raupura area of the city where people criticised the move by the Centre.

In Nadiad, district headquarters of Kheda district, supporters of Hazare stopped the Mumbai-bound Shatabdi Express at the railway station for 10 minutes. The train began its journey only after the Railway Police Force intervened and detained 50 odd protesters.

In Rajkot, over hundred people including some senior citizens held demonstrations with some of them also sitting on fast till Hazare was released.

Over 100 ABVP members and some local NGOs had gathered at the Lalbungalow circle in Jamnagar and shouted slogans against the Congress government. Bhavnagar also saw some groups supporting Hazare and demonstrating near Ghoghagate area of the city.

People in large numbers held protest at Azad Maidan without requisite permission in support of Anna Hazare and were picked up for unlawful assembly, a police officer said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil took stock of the situation in the state in the wake of the pro-Hazare protest with senior home ministry and police officials.

The situation, however, is peaceful, Patil said adding no untoward incident has been reported anywhere in the state.

At Azad Maidan, Bollywood actor Purab Kohli and music director cum singer Vishal Dadlani were among those who extended their support to Hazare's cause.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, about 900 protesters at Hazare's Ralegan Siddhi village and 600 people from Ahmednagar city were detained for blocking roads to condemn the arrest of Hazare, police said.

People had blocked Nagar-Pune state highway for more than four hours. The protesters burnt the copies of Lokpal Bill presented by government in Parliament, they said.

In Solapur, 500 people, most of them college students, were picked up when they tried to disrupt vehicular traffic on Sat Rasta square, protesting police action against the activist.

Hundreds of Anna Hazare supporters on Tuesday courted arrest at the police station in Panaji against the police action on their leader in Delhi this morning.

The activists of India Against Corruption walked into the police station. The speakers demanded that central government should not try to suppress the voice of common man on the street by opting for tactics like what they adopted towards Anna.

Hazare's movement elicited support from renowned freedom fighters like Madhavi Desai, who recalled their 'satyagraha' held in Panaji to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule.

"What's the use of independence if we have to suffer same atrocities at the hands of our own people," she questioned.

Over 55 persons from Ranchi were taken into preventive custody during the day-long protests and demonstrations by various organisations following the arrest of civil right activist Anna Hazare in Delhi.

All of them were let off after a few hours, police said. "India Against Corruption, Jharkhand chapter convener Sanjay Seth, who was among the detained demonstrators, said hundreds of people from different walks of life staged demonstration at Albert Ekka Chowk and other places across the state to protest the arrest of Hazare.

"We have decided to observe black day tomorrow. All our activists will wear black dresses and black flags will be put on vehicles, shops and our houses till Anna Hazare is released from custody," Seth told reporters in Ranchi.

The '74 Chetna Manch, a forum comprising participants of Jayaprakash Narayan movement, also staged a sit-in to support Hazare's demand for an 'effective' anti-corruption bill. Pitching in his support, Jharkhand Assembly Speaker C P Singh termed the arrest of the civil right activist as "undemocratic" that "scuttled" his fundamental right.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said the Centre's action against Anna Hazare, reminded him about the situation during the Emergency.

Stating that the central government should not have arrested Hazare, Patnaik said the Gandhian wanted to hold peaceful protest.

Meanwhile, the state witnessed wide-spread protest rallies and dharna condemning Hazare's arrest. Apart from Bhubaneswar, reports of protests were also received from Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday strongly condemned the arrest of Gandhian Anna Hazare by the Delhi Police and termed it as "murder of democracy".

Meanwhile, people from all walks of life, including advocates and academicians, today took to streets at several places in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana voicing their support to civil society members in their crusade against corruption.

In Chandigarh, several intersections and round abouts were blocked by people, including advocates, officials said here. A long queue of stranded vehicles was seen on several roads in Chandigarh in the wake of blockades laid by people.

At the rally ground in Chandigarh, another NGO 'India Against Corruption' decided to sit on hunger strike in support of the civil society members. NGO's founder member Davinder Sharma told reporters that five people from the NGO would sit on relay hunger strike till the government comes out with a strong Lokpal bill.

Meanwhile, Shiromoni Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned the Centre's move and said it was "black day" for largest democracy of the world.

"It was the black day for largest democracy of the world when its citizens were not allowed to carry out their peaceful protests against rampant corruption in the government and citizens were jailed without specifying any charge," Sukhbir said.

Indian National Lok Dal's general secretary Ajay Singh Chautala dubbed Anna's arrest by Delhi police as "undemocratic, unconstitutional and illegal."

Meanwhile, at Phagwara in Punjab various organisations held protests against arrest of Hazare and other members of civil society.

Reports of peaceful protest by various organisations, including students, have been received from Karnal, Panipat, Hisar, Bhiwani, Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Kaithal.

The arrest of Anna Hazare and his team in New Delhi has evoked wide support across Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state.

People -- young and old -- drawn from different walks of life came out on the streets in all major cities and towns of UP, raising slogans in support of Anna, while condemning the Union government for putting the crusader behind bars.

While lawyers boycotted work in several places including Lucknow, students and teachers joined hands to take out processions or stage token protest demonstrations, and senior citizens donned pro-Anna caps, and holding pro-Anna placards , took out silent marches in their respective localities to express solidarity with the activist.

Reports about such protests came in from several places including Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Sitapur, Firozabad, Mirzapur, Jhansi, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Sultanpur and Ghaziabad.

Candlelight marches were being taken out in different parts of Lucknow as a mark of solidarity with team Anna.

Demanding the immediate release of Hazare, students of the Allahabad University and colleges in Kanpur took out processions during which they burnt the effigies of Congress leaders.

While the UP police did not create any hurdle for the protestors, they did took some people into custody, where demonstrators had staged road-blocks, which naturally disrupted normal life and movement.

Lucknow witnessed widespread support for Anna. Cutting across age and status, pro-Anna activists were out on the streets in different localities of the city right from the morning. Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the city's busiest Hazratganj junction became the focal point of all protest demonstrations as people in big and small groups continued to pour in from all directions throughout the day to stage their protest.