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Protesting regulations that they say are tantamount to online censorship, members of the hacking collective known as Anonymous gathered in more than a dozen cities throughout India Saturday though according to some reports, the results of those assemblies were mixed.

According to Rajini Vaidyanathan of BBC News, members of the group organized their gatherings across 16 cities nationwide, including Mumbai, where an estimated 100 protesters donned their trademark Guy Fawkes masks in order to voice their disapproval of federal Internet laws.

Im here for internet freedom. Theres restrictions on speaking online. Thats why Im here, a 19-year-old student named Amisha, who attended the Mumbai event, told Vaidyanathan.

India is following China and Iran. They dont want the right information to reach people, added a 20-year-old student Nishant, whose identity was obscured by sunglasses and a scarf. There are some sites theyve blocked for information which is relevant to us. Information which is useful to us as citizens of this country.

Thousands had agreed to participate in the rallies, but far less actually turned out on Saturday, with members being for the most part invisible during the first hour, Abhimanyu Chandra of the weekly news magazine Tehelka reported. Furthermore, Chandra added that journalists, policemen, and tourists joined the actual protestors during the gathering, and that not everyone in attendance agreed with the groups methods.

I am unsure about their means of seeking their ends. Systematic taking down of websites Im not sure how I feel about that, a Mumbai-based college student, who wished to remain anonymous, told Tehelka. Likewise, another referred to the group as hypocritical and adding, You cannot fight authoritarianism by yourself being authoritarian. Hacking is a sort of violence, while others expressed doubt that the protests would change anything.

The Saturday evening protest included the distribution and presentation of Anonymous paraphernalia. Leaflets were distributed and Guy Fawkes masks were also available, Chandra said. A banner read: The Corrupt Fear Us. The Honest Support Us. The Heroic Join Us. Posters proclaimed: You can censor the internet, but not my mind; and If the government shuts down the internet, keep calm and shut down the government.;

While it teemed with activity and conversation, the event was marked with some disorganization and a low turnout, the Tehelka writer added. Initially scheduled to take place at the Gateway of India, it was eventually held at Azad Maidan [and] the Delhi protest too saw a low turnout at Jantar Mantar.

In related news on Saturday, officials from Indias top agency for dealing with cybersecurity contingencies told the Times of India that their website had not been attacked or taken offline, despite claims made by hackers affiliated with Anonymous earlier in the day.

The cyberattackers had claimed to have brought down the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) homepage with a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, but officials with the organization told the newspaper that those claims were without any basis and at complete variance with the facts. The fact is that the website has been running continuously & uninterruptedly including the whole of today.

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Anonymous India Censorship Protests Draw Hundreds