Tractors as weapons in the fiercest of face-offs
NEW DELHI: A 25-year-old farmer died on Tuesday and several farmers and policemen were injured following violent clashes between hundreds of protesting farmers and police in central Delhi’s ITO area during the tractor parade taken out by farm groups protesting three farm laws. The incident took place after a tractor overturned after being driven at high speed into a barricade near Andhra Education Society at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg crushing Ravneet Singh, a farmer from Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh.
While protesters alleged that the deceased lost control of the tractor after a tear gas shell hit him, police said the incident happened when the driver hit the barricade.
DCP (central) Jasmeet Singh said in the CCTV footages and videos of the incident it is apparent that the tractor toppled after hitting a barrier which led to the death of a man.
A senior officer said police are in process of registering a case to probe the death. “In this case either inquest proceedings will be done or a case of accident will be registered,” the officer said requesting anonymity.
The scenes of farmers charging at police with their tractors were caught on camera.
Mintu Bajwa, a friend of the deceased, claimed Singh was disoriented after being hit by a tear gas shell.
The first standoff in central Delhi began around noon when the tractor parade from Ghazipur border took a left turn from Vikas Minar and reached ITO. Protesters damaged police buses and barricades set up to restrict their movement. Farmers blocked both Bahadur Shah
Zafar Marg leading to Red Fort and Indraprastha Marg leading to Vikas Marg .
They were not supposed to be at ITO according to an agreement hammered out between farm union leaders and the police.
ITO was a war zone for a few hours, with police trying, in vain, to disperse the farmers using tear gas. At around 1pm, a baton charge seemed to give the police the upper hand till the protestors ran amok with their tractors. Road dividers were also dismantled and used as weapons.
The sudden attack by farmers took the police by surprise and they retreated.
By 1.30pm, protesters managed to break through the barricades and drove towards Red Fort through Delhi Gate-daryaganj route to land at the monument, where farmers from Singhu had already arrived.
Bindar Singh, 25, a farmer from Punjab’s Patiala was among those injured at ITO. Pointing towards an injury near his right eye, he said, “It happened when police lobbed tear gas shells at us while we were marching towards Red Fort. They said we changed routes. But when all citizens can go to the historical monument, why are we the only ones being stopped?”
Till Tuesday evening, hundreds of farmers were still camped at the ITO intersection. Around 5.30pm, Bajwa and others approached the police and asked for an ambulance so that they could remove Singh’s body -- this was immediately arranged.
By 6.15pm, most protestors had dispersed though some still lingered, and the police took charge. Movement of vehicles was soon restored on the arterial Vikas Marg.