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By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |
Updated: January 26, 2021 4:11:20 pm
Farmers at the Singhu border on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna) The farmers tractor parade, promised to be peaceful by union leaders, descended into a spiral of violence as protesters fought pitched battles with policemen in ITO and other parts of the national capital on Tuesday.
Disturbing visuals of a tractor driven by one of the protesters running amok, trying to runover police and media personnel near the ITO intersection have been caught on camera. The driver was later shot at and his tractor turned turtle.
#WATCH Violence continues at ITO in central Delhi, tractors being driven by protestors deliberately try to run over police personnel pic.twitter.com/xKIrqANFP4
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2021
As the protest got out of hand, farmers began to march towards the Red Fort. Protesters, most of them holding the tricolour, overran the fort complex. One of them even slithered up the flag staff to hoist the Nishan Sahib, a panthic flag.
#WATCH A protestor hoists a flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi#FarmLaws #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/Mn6oeGLrxJ
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2021
Earlier this morning, farmers at Singhu and Tikri borders broke police barricades to force their way into the city.
Security personnel tried to convince them that they have been given permission to hold their tractor parade in Delhi only after the Republic Day parade at Rajpath concluded.
“But some group of farmers did not relent and started moving towards the Outer Ring Road breaking police barricades,” PTI quoted an official as saying
Farmers break through Tikri border, enter Delhi. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/3gxmhoAhc9
— Sakshi Dayal (@sakshi_dayal) January 26, 2021
A member of the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 unions, leading the protest against the three Central farm laws at several border points of Delhi, said those who broke the barricades belonged to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee.
He said the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha’s tractor parade will start as scheduled after police give farmers way. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee on Monday announced that they would hold their march on Delhi’s busy Outer Ring Road on Republic Day.
The tractors rally will mark the completion of two months of the farmers’ protest against the Centre’s contentious farm laws by farmers camping at the borders of Delhi.
Farmer leaders also announced a plan to on February 1, the day the Union Budget will be presented.
The Delhi Police had earlier finalised three routes after a week of meetings between farmers and senior police officers, putting in place adequate security arrangements. Haryana authorities have also advised people to avoid travelling to the national capital. Police will remove barricades on January 26 for farmers to carry out the rally.