Economist and activist Jean Dreze, along with some scholars and artists, was detained by Delhi Police on Saturday near Jantar Mantar after they gathered with posters to participate in the Cockroach Janata Party protest.Dreze, who is currently based in Jharkhand, was among four people who had gathered near Kerala House, close to Jantar Mantar. The others were filmmaker Aban Raza, scholar and researcher Paran Amitava, and scholar and artist Anjali S.“We were standing there with posters and speaking to the media when the police picked us up without saying anything,” Dreze said over the phone from Adarsh Nagar police station, where he was being held.He said the group reached the area early, but several others were unable to reach the protest site because roads were blocked. “We thought we should make our presence felt. We were standing there with posters, speaking to the media and doing nothing. Then the police came and detained us,” he said.Dreze said he had never witnessed such an incident before. He also questioned the extensive preventive measures taken ahead of the protest, including restrictions on movement that he said prevented people from reaching the venue.Dreze said he had left Jharkhand for Delhi two days earlier and reached the capital on Friday morning, just before train services were affected by cancellations. He said several trains, including those connecting Ranchi to other parts of the country, had been cancelled, making it difficult for people travelling to Delhi to attend the protest.He alleged that several people who had come to Delhi for reasons unrelated to the protest had also been detained. “Around 30 to 35 such people were being held, and they belonged to working-class and minority communities. They have been mistreated and manhandled,” he said.Story continues below this adShahid Hussain, 30, who is from Bhagalpur in Bihar, told The Indian Express that he had come to Delhi for personal reasons and was due to return home the next day. He said he had stepped out of New Delhi railway station to look for food when police personnel stopped him.“They took my phone and put me on a bus. They also broke my phone,” he alleged.Gulfam, 24, who said he was from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh, said he was on his way to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara to perform seva when he was stopped by police.He said he was walking towards the gurdwara when police personnel directed him to take another route. After he stopped briefly near the protest site, he alleged, police personnel asked him where he was going and offered to show him the way. When he agreed to walk with them, he said, he was taken to a bus.Story continues below this adAnother man, Saurabh, 22, who said he was from Delhi’s Karol Bagh, said he was trying to reach New Delhi railway station after visiting a friend near R K Ashram when police personnel stopped him.He said he was told to board a bus and assured that he would be dropped off and released within 15 to 20 minutes after answering a few questions. His phone was taken, he alleged.“It did not look as if the people being held had come for the protest. Some were going to eat, some were trying to get a ride. They were there for their own work,” he said.Paran Amitava, a JNU scholar who had gathered near Kerala House, said the group had been holding posters and giving media interviews for only a few minutes when police personnel arrived.Story continues below this ad“They did not tell us anything. They pushed us into a bus and tore our posters. Even inside the bus, they did not allow us to speak to the media,” she said.Amitava said police personnel had initially taken the group to another police station before bringing them to Adarsh Nagar. She alleged that several people at the facility had their phones confiscated.