Tension at farm protest sites as forces build up

Police move in to evict protesters from Ghazipur, increase deployment and dig trenches at Singhu

NEW DELHI/GHAZIABAD: Security forces dug trenches, put up barricades, and bolstered numbers at farmer protest sites on Delhi’s borders on Thursday, as tensions simmering since a violent Republic Day tractor rally threatened to boil over at Ghazipur on the eastern fringe of the Capital, where authorities issued an ultimatum to defiant cultivators, who refused to budge.

Cracks have started to appear in the 64-day-old protest, which has lost momentum after the deadly turn of events on January 26 when farmer groups broke through barricades, clashed violently with police, ran riot on the Capital’s streets, and stormed the Red Fort, hoisting the Nishan Sahib, the flag of the Sikhs, on its ramparts.

Thursday’s standoff began in the afternoon when Ghaziabad additional district magistrate (city) Shailendra Kumar Singh asked protesters at UP Gate to end their two-month-long stir and vacate the spot at the earliest, or face penal action.

The order came hours after protesters said power and water supply to the site were cut off, and hundreds of policemen