Farmers vs Police Clash Over ‘101’ List: Tear Gas Shells Fired Amid Protests

Farmers vs Police Clash Over ‘101’ List: Intense tension engulfed Shambhu border, the point of entry into Haryana from Punjab, on Sunday as a group of 101 protesting farmers was stopped from proceeding further to the national capital because permission was not granted owing to prohibitory orders.

Police resorted to dispersing them by teargas shelling. The police have claimed that they were having a list with the names of 101 farmers, provided by farm unions, but the names of the protesting farmers were not according to the list.

“We will first identify them 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. Also, they can’t move ahead in mass as the local (Ambala) administration has prohibited any procession on foot, vehicles or through any other mode,” a Haryana Police official deployed at the site told the media.

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Farmers, under the banners of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, actually resumed their “Delhi Chalo” march from the day before on Saturday, when they suspended the march for a day's time, but after just a few meters, they came to a halt at barricades with a heavy welded wire mesh guarding it.

The farmers march in favor of their longtime demands, like a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops, total loan waiver, and reforms for betterment in the agriculture sector.

“The Haryana government has turned this border like the India-Pakistan border,” said a protester.

In fact, in preventive measures, the security force at the interstate border located on the Ghaggar rivulet has been heightened.

Riot police tried to soothe the farmers as an act of good faith by saying that they were Indians and therefore had the right to march to their nation's capital as all citizens have the right without permission, but providing them with water and biscuits.

Most Punjab-based protesting farmers deferred their intended leaving on Friday for a day because of the reported injury of six farmers during a clash with security forces.

They expressed their willingness for dialogues with the Centre regarding their demands without confrontation with the government. However, they decided to continue their protests as they did not receive any dialogue offer from the Central government.

From his part at the Shambhu border, the farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told the media that they have no reply from the Centre about a discussion with the farmers on their issues and the group of 101 farmers will once again begin their march toward Delhi.

Central paramilitary forces have also been deployed on the Haryana side of the border along with the state police.

Haryana Police had last Friday halted the first batch of 101 farmers who were to leave for the national capital, citing prohibitory order imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

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Police also used around 50 teargas shells to disperse the storming farmers who tried climbing over the barricades and guarded by paramilitary and police. The barricade is temporarily put up at the border to restrict the movements of the protesting farmers.

Mobile internet and the transmission of bulk messages have been suspended in certain areas of Ambala district. Already, prohibitory orders were issued by district officials on a gathering of five or more individuals and also closed government and privately run schools for the day in the order of administration.

To halt disruptions, therefore, an Ambala border has been guarded by the Haryana Police using multilayered barricades and by deploying water cannons at the Shambhu border on National Highway 44.

The farmers made two unsuccessful attempts to march to Delhi on February 13 and 21, citing heavy security at the Punjab-Haryana border. Since then, the farmers have been demonstrating along with the banners of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha in protest at the border. (Agency).

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