Farmers Movement Archive

GBN farmers stopped at EPE amid heavy police presence

Many farmers in the district going to Delhi were stopped by the Greater Noida Police at the Eastern Peripheral Expressway on Friday afternoon as the national capital had closed its borders to protesters since the previous night.Farmers in Haryana and Punjab called for a ‘Delhi chalo’ movement on November 26-27 against the farmers’ laws enacted last month, which they claim threaten the minimum support price (MSP) system. Last night and Friday morning, these protesting farmers were met with water cannons, police barricades and tear gas near the Haryana-Delhi border.Uttar Pradesh farmers too had been responding to the call and the state police put up barricades to prevent a large presence on the UP-Delhi border as well. On Thursday, a small group attempted to go to Delhi, but was stopped at Pari Chowk. On Friday, farmers from Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Gautam Budh Nagar reached the Eastern Peripheral Expressway around 11.30 am.“We were stopped near the Sirsa village where police had set up barricades on both sides to keep us from going forward and forcing us to set up camp there itself,” said Sunil Pradhan, media coordinator, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).Tractors, cars and other vehicles were also parked at the Expressway forcing police to divert traffic from the Sirsa village exit of the expressway towards the next entry point. Traffic was only lightly affected and Noida Police tweeted that traffic was smooth across the DND, Kalindi Kunj and Chilla bordersA large contingent of police was deployed at the expressway.“PAC forces were deployed as a precaution. Traffic was slow but moving continuously due to checking on both sides of the border. But there were no security or law and order concerns but we will continue to remain on alert nonetheless,” said ADCP, zone 1, Kumar Ranvijay Singh.At the camps, farmers shouted slogan against the central government and chants “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”, however there had been no clashes with the police.With the Delhi Police finally relenting and allowing those at the Haryana-Delhi border to enter and protest in the outskirts of the Capital, farmers on the UP site too dispersed to gather more protesters. “We are now being joined by more farmers from Meerut and Muzaffarnagar where there have been protests against the farmers’ policies and we will together proceed to Delhi via NH 9 now that we have been permitted to go to Delhi,” said Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson, BKU.Police officials said that the movement was peaceful and there had been no law and order issues.“We stopped them and diverted traffic for the couple of hours that they (protesters) were there. They dispersed around 4pm,” said additional deputy commissioner of police, zone 3, Vishal Pandey.

Hindustan Times

28-11-2020

Noida