CHANDIGARH: Protesting farmers on Friday suspended for the day their foot march to Delhi as some of them suffered injuries after police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets at the Punjab-Haryana border.
Earlier in the day, a ‘jatha’ of 101 farmers began to march towards Delhi from their protest site at the Shambhu border but was stopped a few metres away by multilayered barricading erected by Haryana cops.
As the group reached the barricades, security personnel lobbed teargas shells to force them to retreat to their protest site. Many farmers rushed to cover the teargas shells with wet jute bags to counter the smoke. Some of them were seen uprooting iron nails and barbed wire installed on the road to stop their march. Many of the ‘jatha’ crossed the initial layer of barricades, but could not proceed further.
A few of them were seen pushing an iron mesh put up by security personnel down the bridge constructed over the Ghaggar river. One of the protesters climbed the roof of a tin shade where security forces had been stationed. He was forced to climb down.
Water cannon vehicles have also been deployed at the Shambhu border point. The Haryana Police asked the farmers not to proceed further, citing a prohibitory order clamped by the Ambala administration under BNS Section 163, which restricts unlawful assembly of five or more in the district. The Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile internet services in 11 villages in Ambala from December 6-9 as a precautionary measure.
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher claimed that five to six protesters were injured. He later announced the suspension of the march for the day and said the injured farmers were taken to a hospital.
“We have called back the jatha for today in view of the injuries suffered by a few farmers,” he said, adding that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha would decide the next course of action after a meeting.
The farmers have been demanding that the Centre give them a legal guarantee for MSP. They have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, when their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.