Delhi police personnel were forced to jump off the wall to save themselves
New Delhi:
Delhi witnessed unprecedented scenes of chaos and violence on Tuesday, the nation’s 72nd Republic Day, when groups of farmers protesting the center’s agricultural laws clashed with police and security forces during what was supposedly that it was a peaceful demonstration of tractors around the borders of the city.
In a video, shared online by the ANI news agency, around a dozen policemen and paramilitary personnel can be seen forced to climb and jump a 15-foot wall at the Red Fort complex to escape a mob of lathi-attackers wielding.
The video shows the police being beaten with lathis and sticks, and leaning against the edge of a wall.
As the attackers rush in, some of them are forced to jump over the metal railing to drop at least 15 feet to the grassy knoll. Others hold on and try to defend themselves.
As the video plays, two tractors appear; one collides with the railing, which appears to break and causes a policeman holding it to fall to the ground.
#WATCH | Delhi: Protesters attacked the police in the Red Fort earlier today. #FarmersProtestpic.twitter.com/LRut8z5KSC
– ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2021
As the video progresses, more and more attackers appear, waving yellow flags and throwing objects.
The attackers then break open a nearby door and continue.
A farmer was killed after the tractor he was driving crashed into police barriers and rolled over.
The video then zooms out to show equally chaotic scenes on other walls.
More than 80 Delhi police and security personnel were injured, several seriously, in Tuesday’s violence.
A farmer was killed after the tractor he was driving in crashed into police barriers at the ITO crossing and overturned. Other farmers, however, allege that he was killed by police shooting.
Two others suffered minor injuries, the PTI news agency said, after their tractor overturned as well.
Aside from the violence in the Red Fort, police and protesters clashed at various other points in the city, including the Singhu border, at the ITO crossing, and in the Nangloi area. The police resorted to lathi Tear gas projectiles were charged and fired in an attempt to disperse protesters.
There have been four cases related to vandalism in East Delhi, where eight buses and 17 private vehicles were vandalized, the ANI news agency reported.
Farmers have blamed “antisocial elements” for the violence and Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a federation of 40 farmers’ unions, has disassociated itself from the chaos and called for calm.
On Tuesday evening, after a meeting with senior police and government officials, Interior Minister Amit Shah (reported to by the Delhi police) ordered additional paramilitary forces to be stationed in the city.
The farmers had been given permission to hold the tractor rally on designated routes at the borders and after the Republic Day parade on Rajpath. However, at 8 a.m., groups of farmers marched and drove their tractors through police barricades at border points and stormed the capital.
With contributions from ANI
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