Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 7
Generation Desk: The Indian police today fired tear gas shells and also used drones to drop the shells to disperse protesting farmers who attempted to march towards Delhi to press their demand for a law on guaranteeing minimum support price for crops.
Chaos broke out near Punjab state’s border with adjacent Haryana after the farmers deployed tractors to remove cemented blockades put up by the police as part of barricading a river bridge to prevent them from marching forward.
A spokesman of Haryana police said drones, deployed to keep an eye on the swarming protesters at Shambhu border, were also used to hurl tear gas shells.
“Stones were pelted at Haryana police by protesters. To control the situation, tear gas shells were being used,” said a Haryana police spokesperson.
Initially, the police resorted to lobbing tear gas shells when a few youths broke an iron barricade and tried to throw it off the bridge.
Despite an appeal by the Haryana police to the protestors to stay away from the barricades, many youths continued to stay put and stood over the barricades, officials said.
After an hour when a sizeable number of farmers gathered near the barricades at Shambhu border, the police again resorted to hurling tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. The tear gas shells were also lobbed after some of the protesters entered a nearby field.
Protesting farmers slammed the BJP-ruled Haryana government for hurling tear gas shells and said they were determined to march towards Delhi to press their demands.
The incident came as the farmers commenced their “Delhi Chalo” march this morning to press for their demands, after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to MSP for crops, remained inconclusive.
