Al Jazeera Online

Thousands of Indians are ringing in the new year by holding protests against a citizenship law, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to dampen demonstrations that have run for nearly three weeks.

India has been rocked by the protests since December 11, when the government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), easing the way for non-Muslim minorities from the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to gain Indian citizenship.

Combined with opposition to a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), many Indians fear the move will discriminate against the minority Muslim community and chip away at the country’s secular constitution.

Protesters plan at least three demonstrations in New Delhi, the capital. Poetry recitals and speeches are planned by organisers at a protest outside New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university, which was stormed by police this month.

Student and civil society groups, opposition parties and others also plan events on New Year’s Day to mark their opposition to the law. At some meetings, mass pledges to defend the constitution and hunger strikes are planned.

Similar “protest parties” are being organised at designated sites in other major Indian cities.

In the southern city of Hyderabad, at least two small groups of demonstrators have been organising flash protests, to skirt police restrictions on larger gatherings. Street-side poetry recitals, stand-up comedy, and music performances are also planned in the financial capital of Mumbai and the eastern city of Kolkata.