Stung by the violence of January 26, which caught them off guard, and determined to prevent a recurrence, the police are doing everything possible to keep protesting peasants in Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur grounded.
On Monday, a photograph of some police officers in armor-like gear went viral on social media. These steel batons have a forearm protector and were brought to trial after more than 500 people complained of receiving hand injuries while handling protesters on Republic Day. It was clarified that its use had not yet been approved and only a few were being tested in Shahdara. “We will not use them until our superior officers give us the go ahead,” said a police officer.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has called for a three-hour chakka jam on February 6 to protest against these measures, the arrests, the suspension of the internet, the sealing of roads, the interruption of the water supply and, of course, the agricultural laws. The cops are enforcing a kind of chakka jam by installing tire cutters.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava visited the Ghazipur border and assessed the security arrangements there. He also addressed his men from the top of a barricade.
There was some consternation among Tikri locals and farmers when the road excavation began Sunday night. Some took to Twitter. In the morning, iron railings and spikes had been embedded in the excavated area and cemented with boulders placed in front of this area to separate the site of the police protest.
On Monday morning, a concrete mixer truck was busy pouring fresh batches of cement mix into the wide gap between the barricades on the Singhu border and workers later fortified it by welding iron bars with hooks to the barriers. New batches of concrete barriers kept arriving and a crane was used to place them in a maze. This continued into the evening under the strict supervision of the Delhi Police and an RAF contingent as the administration attempted to isolate the main protest municipality on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway.
Over the past few days, a five-layer barricade with trucks, cranes, containers and concrete bars was installed on the Delhi side and a vehicle exclusion zone several kilometers long was installed. Equipped with Vajra vehicles, cranes and riot vans, now only the police can access this area and the media can enter on foot.
Several vehicle-mounted speaker systems were found to play high-pitched patriotic songs right off the stage mounted by Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee in what appeared to be a move to create psychological pressure. The playlist had a variety of songs, from ‘Chale Chalo’ from ‘Lagaan’ to popular ones from the movie ‘Border’. A police officer said this was intended to keep security personnel morale high.
Barriers have also been placed on access roads and people have to take a detour of a few kilometers through rice paddies behind industrial units on both sides of the road to reach the protest site. Gurtej Singh, a young farmer from Moga, said the government was treating its own people as outsiders. “Punish those who committed illegal acts in Lal Quila, but what is the use of building walls on the borders of the national capital?” I ask.
Meanwhile, the police commissioner announced on Monday a compensation of 25,000 rupees for policemen who were seriously injured in the January 26 riots and 10,000 rupees for those with other serious injuries. District DCPs have been asked to propose increased financial assistance in special cases.
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