Braving water cannons, farmers march to Delhi
Punjab farmers break barriers, clash with police trying to cross border for ‘Chalo Delhi’ march
KARNAL/CHANDIGARH: Thousands of farmers from Punjab faced water cannons and tear gas shells on a cold Thursday, as they broke police barriers at the state’s border with Haryana, pushing towards the national capital in their “Chalo Delhi” march against the contentious farm laws passed by Parliament.
At the Shambhu border, the Haryana Police and Punjab protesters in their tractor-trolleys faced each other off on a bridge over the Ghaggar River. Angry farmers threw stones at security forces deployed to control the crowd.
Police made announcements on loudspeakers to ask the farmers
assembled on the Punjab side of the interstate border to disperse. As smoke from teargas shells clouded the air and security personnel milled around, people could be seen standing on top of trucks.
The Haryana Police had blocked the Amritsar-Delhi highway at this border point with trucks to stop the farmers’ tractor-trolleys, some of them laden with food.
Farmers chucked some barricades into the river. They were also seen pushing the trucks.
A few protesters initially managed to cross the barricades on foot. Later, police eased the blockade, allowing the protesters and their tractors to proceed on the road to Delhi, 200 km away.
But police barricades were also set up at other points on the highway as it passes through Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-run Haryana. At Karnal, there was another face-off with police.
The Delhi Police have beefed up security at its border with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, in