Chennai Police detained five protesters on Sunday morning for making kolam (or rangoli) with messages against the Citizenship Act and the NRC in Besant Nagar. The protesters were later released from police custody.

The police said that no permission was granted to the demonstrators to make rangoli in the area. “We are living in a police state where we have to beg for permission to put a 6-dot kolam,” Gayathri, one of the women who were detained, was quoted as saying by The News Minute. “This is unfortunate. If they are going to clamp down on dissent on this level, there is going to be unhappiness throughout society.”