Farmers start protest march towards Delhi, Haryana Police shells tear gas at Shambhu border

The Haryana Police has beefed up the security architecture at the Shambhu border on Sunday. The Police have put up barricades and installed nails to stop farmers from heading towards the national capital. The farmers have started their march towards Delhi with full preparations. They have taken wet jute bags and parked water tankers on the road to defy tear gas shelling.

After an initial altercation between the police and protestors over lack of permission to march towards Delhi, the Haryana Police shelled tear gas. The teargas shells forced the farmers, some of whom had covered their faces and were wearing protective eyewear, to get back a few metres. Some were seen covering the shells with wet jute bags.

than 101 named trying to cross into Haryana: Police official

A Haryana Police official was present on site that protestors included other than 101 names of farmers provided and that the police will check names before letting them into Haryana. He said, "We will first identify them (farmers) and then we can allow them to go ahead. We have a list of the names of 101 farmers, and they are not those people - they are not letting us identify them - they are moving ahead as a mob."

The march resumed after it was stopped at its inception at the Shambhu border on Friday. Meanwhile, the protesting farmers from Punjab threatened that they would protest the entry of the BJP leaders in Punjab. Farmer leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said, "The protest of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Samyukta Kisan Morcha has entered the 300th day. But the central government is still not ready... We made another big announcement that we will protest against the entry of BJP leaders in Punjab. We are not sure but we have heard that Haryana CM Bhola Singh (Union Minister) and Amritsar (Union Minister) are protesting against their entry into the state..."

Notably, as part of the farmer unions SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha call, a 'jatha' of 101 farmers began its march to Delhi on Friday from their protest site at the Shambhu border to press for their demands. However, protesting farmers suspended their march to the national capital for the day after some of them suffered injuries due to tear gas shells fired by security personnel, who stopped them at the Punjab-Haryana border.

What farmers are demanding?

The farmers have been pressing for various demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP). Besides MSP, the farmers are also demanding a farm debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases (against farmers), and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

(With inputs from agencies)