Farmers Movement Archive

Tractor rally turns violent as farmers enter Capital

Delhi witnessed chaotic scenes on Tuesday as groups of protesting farmers broke off from the planned Republic Day tractor parade routes and swarmed into the heart of the national capital, hoisting a union flag and a Sikh religious flag inside Red Fort. Police used tear gas, water cannons and lathicharge to stop the farmers at several locations in the city, including at ITO, where one protester died. The Delhi police said 83 personnel and one civilian were injured in the protests. By evening, the Home Ministry deployed additional paramilitary forces, and suspended mobile Internet services in several parts of the city. In a statement issued late in the evening, the Delhi police said the protesting farmers had breached the agreement with the unions and began their march before the scheduled time. “They chose the path of violence and vandalism, and seeing that the police had to take necessary steps to maintain law and order. This agitation led to damage of public property and many police personnel were also injured,” they said. The police have registered 11 FIRs against the protesters for damaging public property and attacking personnel in east Delhi. Farm union leaders condemned the violence, and distanced themselves from “anti-social elements” who, they claimed, had infiltrated the protest, insisting that the vast majority of protesters remained peaceful. They vowed that their agitation demanding the repeal of the three contentious farm reform laws would continue, but admitted that Tuesday’s violence could hurt their negotiations with the government.After intense negotiations, the Delhi police had given permission for three parade routes, staying near the border areas, scheduled to start from noon. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the joint front of all protesting unions, had agreed to their conditions. Tensions on U.P. border However, trouble started late on Monday night as hundreds of farmers on tractors from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh threatened to enter Delhi at the northeastern Loni border point, with the police saying they were “directionless and leaderless”, but wanted to go to the Red Fort. On Tuesday morning, even before the official contingents rolled down Rajpath, one defiant farm union from Punjab, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, broke through the barricades at the northwestern Singhu border with Haryana, and tractors drove out on the road to Delhi.

The Hindu

2021-01-27

NEW DELHI