Eight people, including five women, were detained briefly on Sunday when they staged an anti-CAA protest here by drawing 'kolams' (rangoli), police said.
They were picked up for holding the protest without permission and causing inconvenience to others, a senior police official said adding they were later let off.
Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act are continuing in several parts of Tamil Nadu by political parties and civil society groups for the past several days.
On Sunday, the group of eight held the protest in the Besant Nagar locality in South Chennai.
They used the 'kolams' to express opposition to the CAA and National Register of Citizens and National Population Register and raised slogans "No to NRC" and "No to NPR" before police took them into custody.
"We warned them and later let them off," the police official added.
Those detained alleged they were manhandled and their phones snatched by police.
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