14 people taken into preventive custody after Friday prayers

As many as 14 people were taken into preventive custody at the historic Mecca Masjid here after Friday prayers during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, police said.

"We have taken 14 people into preventive custody at the Mecca Masjid. They were let off afterwards," Assistant Commissioner of Police Charminar B Anjaiah said.

People in large numbers gathered near the mosque to offer prayers. They shouted slogans againstthe new Act and the government after the prayers.

As the crowd began swelling, police personnel deployed there dispersed them.

Barring some slogan shouting against the CAA, prayers at the Mecca Masjid here passed off peacefully, Anjani Kumar said.

"City is peaceful. Except some slogan shouting against the CAA, situation at Mecca Masjid was peaceful.

Though there was no additional deployment of force, our senior officials were present at the mosque," Kumar told PTI.

Meanwhile, students of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University took out a protest rally on the campus against the CAA and NRC, varsity teachers association sources said.

Some teachers in the association joined the protest in their individual capacity.

Holding placards, they raised slogans against the CAA and NRC, they said.

The city has been witnessing sporadic protests by various organisations including students and political parties against the CAA for the past few days.

Thousands of people participated in the rally against CAA and NRC held at Kamareddy, senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir claimed in a press release.

The protesters walked up to three km and submitted a memorandum to the district collector, it said.

The congress leader reiterated his demand that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao convene a special session of the Legislative Assembly to pass a resolution rejecting both CAA and NRC.