CARRIED AWAY: Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi is detained by police during a sit-in protest outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence in New Delhi. PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW DELHI:

India's main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, demanded on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi step down over the police crackdown against student protests calling for reforms in the education system.

Modi must resign "for destroying the future of India's youth", the Congress Party leader said in a

post on social media as he led a march with other lawmakers towards the prime minister's residence in New Delhi.

"The government doesn't want to take any accountability, nor does it want to have a debate on it in parliament," said Gandhi, the leader of the opposition in the lower house.

Gandhi later staged a sit-in protest outside Modi's residence, where cries of "we want justice" were

interspersed with chants of

"down with Modi".

Hours later, AFP journalists saw Gandhi and other parliamentarians being bundled into a bus by police and taken away from the area.

Gandhi later shared pictures of himself being carried away by

police, including one where he

appeared to have some blood

around his nose.

"... this fight for justice for students will now not stop or be halted," he said on X.

The developments come after police said 60 protesters were injured in clashes with security forces in the heart of New Delhi on Monday, marking the biggest street rally in the capital for about five years.