'Illegal detentions' in India, as protesters allege foul play at Electoral Commission

PRESS REVIEW – Monday, October 12: Widespread protests in India are met with detentions judged "illegal" by the country's Supreme Court. But first: Lebanese papers report as Hezbollah prepares for a new regional flare-up. Finally, Citroën hopes to win hearts and minds with an electric reboot of the vintage Deux Chevaux model.

The Arabic-language daily An-Nahar in Lebanon reports on revived calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah after nearly half a tonne of explosives were found in a vehicle heading towards Beirut, whose drivers are suspected of belonging to the armed group. Al Joumhouria has images of the explosives on its front page, and suggests on the inside pages that the presence of shrapnel corresponds with the kind of material the group have previously used in assassinations.

L'Orient-Le Jour, meanwhile, reports more widely on Hezbollah's preparations for a future war, as the group has allegedly recruited new members, held new military training and augmented the range and carrying capacity of its FPV drones. This as Israel has reportedly made its intention known to expand the ongoing occupation and target further Hezbollah infrastructure, especially in the east of the country. 

Meanwhile in India, the Supreme Court has declared some of the hundreds of detentions of protesters over the weekend "illegal", as we see on the front page of The Hindu. This comes after 40,000 security personnel were deployed, according to the Hindustan Times.

The Financial Times describes the reaction of the Cockroach Janta Party's top brass, who were detained over the weekend and released only following a court order. Party founder Abhijeet Dipke emerged, calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the "biggest coward this country has ever seen", and promising to double down on protests after the Electoral Commission allegedly removed millions of names from the electoral registers, denying those people voting rights, apparently in areas unsympathetic to Modi's ruling BJP party.

According to The New York Times, the crackdown has exposed some of the limits of Modi's playbook – since despite multiple roadblocks and an internet shutdown in central New Delhi, Gen Z protesters still managed to flood social media with images of the crackdown. 

Finally, as Citroën reboots the iconic Deux Chevaux model, Le Monde calls neo-retro "the symbol of declining European carmakers who no longer have the means to innovate". Automobile Magazine is rather more charitable, saying it has "succumbed" to the car, the star of the Paris Auto Show.