At least 14 people were detained in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Sunday after they assembled without permission to protest against the Centre's Agnipath scheme announced for the recruitment of youth in the armed forces, police said.
Around 100 people, mostly locals, assembled at a spot in the city's Meghaninagar area to protest. Some of the protesters claimed they had gathered to protest against the scheme in a peaceful "Gandhian" manner.
"We detained 14 of them as they had gathered without permission," Meghaninagar police station's inspector J.P. Chauhan said.
However, one of the agitators said, "We were protesting in the Gandhian way, but we were not allowed to sit even for a few minutes as the police arrived and detained us. We want permission to protest as long as our demands are not met and the scheme is not taken back."
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday met the three service chiefs amid escalating protests against the 'Agnipath' military recruitment scheme in several parts of the country.
It is learnt that the focus of the deliberations was on pacifying the protesters.
As the protests intensified in various parts of the country, the Defence Minister on Saturday approved a proposal to reserve 10% of the jobs in various organisations under the ministry for recruits under the 'Agnipath' scheme if they meet the requisite eligibility criteria.
Gujarat has so far not reported any violent protest against the scheme.
