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The farmers’ march to Delhi on Tuesday resulted in chaos at the Punjab-Haryana border as protesters faced tear gas shells, water cannons and lathicharge at two points when they attempted to break through multiple layers barricades set up by police to prevent them from heading towards the national capital.
At least 110 farmers from Punjab were injured in the face-off with Haryana police stationed at Shambhu border near Ambala and Khanauri border in Jind, after the latter fired tear gas shells, including through drones, and resorted to force to halt long caravans of tractors, SUVs, trucks and private cars. According to Haryana police officials, several protesters were also detained at the Shambhu border but were released a few hours later.
“We will ensure complete peace and not allow it to be disrupted in any way. We will seek additional forces from the Centre if required,” Haryana home minister Anil Vij said, as the state government imposed restrictions on the assembly of people under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in 17 districts and extended mobile internet shutdowns in seven of them.
Sixty-four companies of paramilitary personnel and 50 from the state police were deployed across the Haryana districts. A Haryana Police spokesperson said at least 24 policemen were injured after protesting farmers resorted to stone pelting at both the points.
Officials said that the police action against the protesters at Shambhu border came after a few of them broke two layers of metal barricades with the help of tractors.
“Police resorted to tear gas to control the situation. No one will be allowed to create nuisance, those doing so will be dealt with strictly. Respect the law and maintain peace,” Haryana assistant inspector general (AIG) Manisha Chaudhary said.
Police said drones, which were initially deployed to monitor the situation, were also used to fire tear gas shells in the area.
At least 60 protesters were injured in the police action at Shambhu border. Visuals from the area showed farmers running towards nearby farmland on the sides of the road as police fire tear gas and water cannons to disperse them. Farmer leaders were heard asking protestors to use wet clothes to minimise the impact of the tear gas shells. The protesters were seen covering fallen teargas canisters with jute bags to contain the smoke.
A similar face-off was reported in Jind as police lobbed teargas shells and used water cannons when the protesters tried to cross barricades installed at Data Singhwala-Khanauri border. At least 50 protesters were injured in the police action, including lathicharge that ensued.
Police claimed some of the protesters also tried to attack paramilitary personnel deployed in the area.
Farmers from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh on Monday morning began their “Delhi Chalo” march to press for various demands, including the enactment of a law on minimum support price. The protests are being helmed by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, which gave the “Delhi Chalo” call.
Later on Monday, as talks between Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda and Nityanand Rai, Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and protesting farmers hit a dead-end after hours of parleys, thousands of paramilitary and police personnel in riot gear behind multiple layers of metal barriers with barbed wires and spikes took position to guard the Haryana and Delhi borders.
At 10am on Tuesday, a large group of farmers, including women, packed in tractor-trolleys, left from Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib, about 40 km from the border with BJP-ruled Haryana, for Dabwali, Shambhu and Jind-Khanuari.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) leader Kaka Singh Kotda said more than 100 tractor-trolleys are parked on the Punjab side near the Khanauri border. “The Haryana and Punjab borders have been made international borders. The BJP government is trying to treat it as international borders. We are sitting peacefully and we will move forward. The government should accept our demands,” he said.
Farmers who were injured in the police action at Shambhu border were rushed to Government Civil Hospital in Rajpura, nearly 20km away, and are undergoing treatment.
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher slammed the police action against the protesters. “It was a black day in the history of Indian democracy. The number of tear gas shells fired and the type of tear gas shells used are usually not used for farmers. Some of our youngsters were critically injured,” he said.
He alleged that rubber bullets were also fired on the farmers by the Haryana police. He said the protesters would stay put at the Shambhu border and would try to cross the area on Wednesday morning.
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