Faced with the imminent resumption of sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments in Delhi, traders went on a 24-hour bandh on Tuesday downing shutters and holding demonstrations to protest the Municipal Corporation of Delhi action.

All markets in Delhi, retail and wholesale, were closed to protest the sealing, said Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of Confederation of All India Traders.

Demonstrations were being held in various parts of the capital to register protest against the sealing drive and while there were no reports of any violence so far, traders from south Delhi gheraoed the MCD office in Green Park.

The CAIT had on Monday given the bandh call after the Supreme Court refused to grant the traders any relief from the sealing drive and the Centre subsequently said it had no option but to abide by the court orders.

The bandh has received support from both ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the capital.

"All markets in Delhi are closed today. But we have excluded essential services from the bandh," Khandelwal said.

He said private medical practitioners and chemists were supporting the bandh by sporting black bands on their arms, but added that the health services would remain unaffected.

He also said autorickshaw associations had extended support to the strike and autos would remain off the roads. All schools in Delhi remained closed in view of possibility of violence during the bandh.