Women protestors staging a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah were hit with sticks by the police on Tuesday, TV news channel Aaj Tak reported. A video of the incident has been widely circulated on social media.

The women-led sit-in at New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh has inspired hundreds of women across the country, including those in Etawah, to take to the streets and oppose the citizenship law and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens.

Hundreds of protesting women had reportedly started gathering in the Pachraha area of Etawah since Tuesday morning. The numbers swelled to thousands by the end of the day.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which bans any public assembly of more than four people, was implemented in parts of the state on January 18. While the police justified its action citing Section 144, protestors questioned why Home Minister Amit Shah was allowed to conduct a rally in Lucknow despite the ban on public gatherings.