Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was today detained by the police after he led a brief sit-in protest in Lucknow even as the administration sealed the road leading to his residence right ahead of his "Kisan Yatra" scheduled in Kannauj district.

A little past noon, Mr Yadav, wearing his party's trademark red cap, and along with a bunch of supporters, broke through police barricades placed near his residence on Lucknow's Vikramaditya Marg. Following resistance by the police, he and his supporters squatted in the middle of the road as SP workers raised slogans against the government, reported news agency ANI.

Shortly afterwards, he was detained by the police.

Earlier, the authorities had informed that the Kisan Yatra had been denied permission, and detained several SP leaders, besides sealing Vikramaditya Marg. The clampdown had been justified citing the Covid-19 protocol in place across the state.

"We were informed that people will gather at one spot and launch a procession from there, and I understand that any crowd that remains static for half an hour or an hour, doesn't help anyone, not even the SP President. We had even requested that the programme be dropped," Kannauj district magistrate Rakesh Mishra told NDTV.com