Netizens including Bollywood stars, poets and writers flooded the social networking sites with messages extending support to Anna Hazare following his arrest for vowing to go ahead with his fast for a strong Lokpal in defiance of prohibitory orders.

Criticising the arrest of Hazare and his associates, the 'twitterati', facebook followers and bloggers broadly felt that government will have to pay a "heavy price" for not allowing citizens to protest which is a "democratic right".

"Arresting Anna n team is deplorable. The govt has pushed itself into a sorry situation from which it will find difficult to extricate itself," renowned Bollywood actress and activist Shabana Azmi tweeted.

"We condemn the arrest of Anna Hazare and his team and the ban on the proposed fast. Right to protest peacefully is a democratic right," she wrote.

Film producer Shekhar Kapoor said, "Arresting Anna Hazare will provoke sporadic violence bec (because) he will not b able 2 control it frm prison." "Corruption hurt UPA. Arrogance will kill it," said author Chetan Bhagat.

Film maker Pritish Nandy condemned the police action and said, "This Govt cant stop corruption, inflation, terrorism. It can only stop the protest of its own citizens." "...It will pay a heavy price for this hubris," he wrote on a portal.