New Delhi: Protesting farmers on Friday suspended for the day their foot march to Delhi to press for various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP, after some of them suffered injuries due to tear gas shells at the Punjab-Haryana border.
A ‘jatha’ of 101 farmers had begun a march towards the national capital from their protest site at the Shambhu border but was stopped a few metres away by multilayered barricading erected by Haryana security personnel.
As the group reached the barricades, security personnel lobbed multiple tear gas shells to disperse the protesting farmers and force them to retreat to their protest site.
Covering their eyes and mouths, several protesting farmers rushed to cover the tear gas shells with wet jute bags to counter the smoke. Many of them were seen uprooting iron nails and barbed wire installed on the road to deter their march.
Chanting ‘Satnam Waheguru’ and holding their union flags, several farmers of the ‘jatha’ crossed the initial layer of barricades easily 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 district administration under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) that prohibits the assembly of five or more people.
