New Delhi - Members of the ethnic Gujjar community blocked major highways and roads leading to Indian capital Delhi on Thursday causing chaos for commuters during peak rush hour.

The shephardic Gujjar community has been holding protests in north-western Rajasthan state since May 23, demanding to be reclassified to qualify for government jobs and quotas in schools.

Classified as an Other Backward Class (OBC), the 50 million Gujjars want to be downgraded to Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to gain more quotas under India's affirmative action policy.

At least 37 people have died in the violent protests, most of them by police firing to quell mobs attacking police stations.

The Gujjar protests spread to Delhi's major satellite towns of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad on Thursday as the community upped their protests on the first anniversary of the killing of 26 Gujjar's in police firings during similar protests in 2007.

Personnel from Delhi's armoured police teargassed protestors who were throwing stones on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road which leads into south Delhi.

Groups of Gujjars were also blocking highways from Lucknow and Agra, an official at the police control room said., adding that there have been no reports of violence.

Protestors were also squatting on rail tracks leading to the capital, forcing railway authorities to cancel 10 trains.

Several embassies located in Delhi, including that of the United States, have cautioned their citizens from attempting to travel out of Delhi on Thursday.

More than 45,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed along roads and rail tracks leading to the capital to ensure peace, the police said.

Gurgaon and Faridabad lie in northern Haryana state, while Noida and Ghaziabad are located in Uttar Pradesh. All four areas are home to thousands who work in the national capital and also have offices and commercial complexes to which residents of Delhi commute to daily.

The Gujjars live largely in Rajasthan Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Bayana in Rajasthan, about 150 kilometres west of the state capital Jaipur, has been the epicentre of the protests that began on May 23. Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, a retired army colonel, has been spearheading the agitation from Bayana.

The Rajasthan government had invited the Gujjar leaders for a dialogue, but they have refused saying they would call off their agitation only if they were assured of scheduled tribe status. (dpa)