Protesting farmers began a countrywide road blockade or chakka jam on Saturday to intensify their agitation against the new farm laws. Thousands of farmers blocked roads and national highways throughout the nation except in Delhi and Uttarakhand.

Farm leaders also avoided blocking roads in Uttar Pradesh since many farmers are busy with the harvest. The agitation, which will take place for three hours from noon to 3 pm, remained largely peaceful.

The police have stepped up security and made arrangements for traffic diversion, officials told PTI. Additional police personnel were deployed in Punjab and Haryana, which have seen the maximum number of farmers protesting.

Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) General Secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said they will block roads at 33 places in 15 districts of Punjab, including Sangrur, Barnala and Bathinda.

“Elders and youth have gathered here to participate in chakka jam,” a protestor at the Punjab-Haryana border near Ambala, told PTI. “It will be peaceful.”

Protesting farmers said emergency vehicles such as ambulances and school buses will be allowed to move during the protest. Vehicles carrying essentials will also be allowed to pass.

The protest is being held in response to the Centre’s handling of the farmers’ agitation as well as the budgetary allocations made this year for agriculture and allied sectors, which farmers say is dismal.

In Haryana, farmers blocked the highway from Delhi at Kundli to Palwal, reported NDTV. The movement of ambulances and essential services has not been stopped. The Pathankot-Jammu Highway was also blocked.

The mood was celebratory at the Rewari-Alwar border, with visuals showing farmers beating drums and shouting slogans.

At the Atoha village near the Delhi-Agra Highway, over 2,000 protestors gathered to participate in the protest, Palwal District Commissioner of Police Naresh Narwal told The Hindu.

In Rajasthan, too, protests came out in large numbers and blocked the national highway near Shahjahanpur border.

The situation escalated in Bengaluru, Karnataka, where the police detained protestors who were agitating outside the Yelahanka Police Station, reported ANI.

No protests in Delhi

Even though the farmers have said they will not enter Delhi on Saturday, the police in the Capital have tightened security arrangements at the borders. Drones have been arranged for an aerial view, and CCTV cameras have been installed in sensitive areas.

“Police personnel are deployed at strategic locations such as Road number 56, NH-24, Vikas Marg, GT Road, Jirabad Road,” Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told ANI. “Barricading has been done in a way that there is no intrusion in Delhi.”

Entry and exit facilities at several Delhi metro stations were temporarily closed in view of the protests. This includes, Mandi House, ITO, Delhi Gate Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Janpath, Khan Market, Nehru Place and Central Secretariat, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said.

On Friday, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava held a meeting with senior police officers to review the law and order arrangements at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri, reported PTI.

Delhi Police Public Relation Officer Chinmoy Biswal said that the police are also monitoring social media posts to keep a check on fake news and inflammatory content. “We want to make sure people don’t spread rumours,” he added. “We are also in touch with police from other states.”

Saturday’s agitation will take place at a time when authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on the protestors, fortifying their protest sites with iron spikes and steel barricades to stop demonstrating farmers from entering the Capital. The government also restricted access to mobile internet services in these areas.

The clampdown started after a tractor procession in the city by farmers turned violent and chaotic, when a group of farmers veered from an agreed protest route and stormed into the Red Fort. At least one person died in what police said was a tractor accident. Hundreds of police officers and farmers were wounded.