NEW DELHI: An agitating farmers’ union on Tuesday objected to the Delhi Police putting posters that allegedly warned off protesters at the Tikri border site, even as the force claimed these were not new and only informed the protesters that they would not be allowed to enter the national capital.
In a statement, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer unions that is spearheading the ongoing agitation against the three agri laws, said it is opposed to the police’s move as the protesters were exercising their constitutional right and appealed to the farmers to continue their sit-in peacefully.
“The Delhi Police has placed some posters at the Tikri border protest site where farmers have been warned that they will have to vacate the area. Such posters are irrelevant as farmers have been staging a peaceful protest by exercising their constitutional rights....
“We will oppose the conspiracy to end the protest with these kinds of threats and warnings,” the SKM said in the statement. In the posters, the police have not given any deadline to the protesting farmers to vacate the area. On its part, the Delhi Police said it is a “routine” process.
“The posters were pasted at the border area after the protest started. It is a routine exercise. The police have conveyed to them through posters that they are sitting in the jurisdiction of Haryana and they are not allowed to enter the national capital unlawfully,” a senior police officer said.
Thousands of protesters had clashed with the police during a tractor parade called by the agitating farmer unions on January 26.