India, July 21 -- As dusk fell over the leafy avenues and upscale markets of Lutyens' Delhi on Monday, what remained resembled a battlefield: broken glass, pieces of stones and bricks, and footwear that had slipped off midway lay on the roads as the acrid smell of tear gas lingered in the air. Police action carried on for nearly six hours, clearing protesters from the arterial roads of central Delhi, who at the height of the protest were spread as far as Raisina Road, in front of the Parliament, nearly 2 km from the protest site at Jantar Mantar.

The immediate vicinity of the protest site, Janpath, and large parts of Connaught Place wore a desolate look. Shops, cafes, and restaurants had earlier hurriedly pulled down shutters and closed ...