Farmers Movement Archive

Police use barbed wire, spikes, trenches to cut off protest sites

Delhi has been turned into a fortress as the police continued to block access to border protest sites on Tuesday with concrete barricades, barbed wire, spikes and trenches across approach roads, and undertook massive deployment of security personnel. Journalists and other visitors were denied entry to the Singhu border site, and Internet connections remain suspended. “The government has turned these protest sites into open air prisons. They are treating farmers like foreign invaders. Even the British did not do that,” said P. Krishnaprasad, a leader of the All India Kisan Sabha. On February 6, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) will organise a nationwide, three-hour highway blockade to protest against the police actions, he said. The Supreme Court-appointed committee is set to hold its third meeting on Wednesday, but is yet to meet any of the protesting unions as the situation is “very hot”, according to one of the members of the committee. Farm unions have condemned the police repression and arrests. The SKM has set up a legal desk to aid the 115 protesters who have been arrested and are now in jail, as well as the 29 protesting farmers who are still missing after Republic Day. At a late-night press conference, the SKM team alleged that those in jail faced torture and had not been sent for medical examination. The lawyers would file habeas corpus petitions for production of the missing persons with the aid of the Delhi government’s Home Ministry, said Rajinder Deep Singh Wala of the Kirti Kisan Union. He added that all those arrested, whether or not they stuck to the planned route for the tractor parade would receive support. Apart from this, more than 160 people have died since the agitation began over two months ago.

The Hindu

2021-02-03

NEW DELHI