Several people, including a police officer, were injured in the violence.
New Delhi:
Delhi police arrested 44 people, including the man who attacked a police officer on Friday with a sword during clashes on the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana, the epicenter of the two-month-long farmers’ protest against three central laws. In Ghazipur, one of the other protest sites, thousands of protesters barricaded themselves on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, defying the ultimatum of the Ghaziabad administration to vacate the area. With the crowd growing after a confrontation and an outbreak of tears by one of the movement’s top leaders on Thursday, security forces in large numbers were called back.
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The man with the sword is believed to be one of the protesting farmers who allegedly attacked a group that stormed the protest site in Singhu, despite heavy police presence, vandalized the protesters’ tents and smashed your washing machines.
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The police had to fire tear gas projectiles and use batons to break up a confrontation between peasants and a large group of men who claimed to be neighbors and who threw stones at each other. Several people, including Delhi Police Officer Pradeep Paliwal, were injured in the violence.
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Thousands of farmers arrived at the protest sites on Friday and more are expected to join soon, as union leaders accused the government of trying to destroy their peaceful unrest and sought the support of the people to observe a fast on January 30, anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death, starting at 9 a.m. At 5 pm.
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Investigating the Republic Day violence, Delhi Police have asked nine farmer leaders (Rakesh Tikait, Pawan Kumar, Raj Kishore Singh, Tajender Singh Virk, Jitender Singh, Trilochan Singh, Gurmukh Singh, Harpreet Singh and Jagtar Singh Bajwa) to join the investigation.
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On the border of Ghazipur, one of the other protest sites, thousands of farmers from western Uttar Pradesh joined members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) who have stayed on the Delhi-Meerut highway despite the ultimatum of the Ghaziabad administration to vacate the area.
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Around 3,000 security personnel, including those from the Provincial Armed Police (PAC), Rapid Action Force (RAF) with riot gear and civilian police, were stationed in and around the Ghazipur protest site, said the Indiapuram Senior Police Officer Anshu Jain to PTI news agency.
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The size of the crowd, which increased dramatically overnight after an emotional Rakesh Tikait said he was ready to die from the protest, was estimated at between five and six thousand by district officials, while officials from the BKU present there stated that it was more than 10,000 on Friday afternoon.
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The GIC field near Mahaveer Chowk in Muzaffarnagar was packed, a sea of people gathered to support the protesters at UP Gate in Ghazipur. Hundreds of tractors with the tricolor and the flags of the agricultural unions were parked along the roads of the city, interrupting the movement of traffic.
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Several opposition parties condemned the repression of farmers. Congressional leader Rahul Gandhi warned that farmers’ agitation will spread across the country if not resolved soon, and said the only solution to the problem was to throw the new farm laws in the “bin.”
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Farmers have been protesting at three sites on the outskirts of Delhi since November against new central government farm laws that they fear will leave them at the mercy of large corporations. Eleven rounds of talks between the two sides failed and the protesters demanded nothing less than a complete pushback.
(With PTI inputs)
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