NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Breaching police barricades, thousands of Indian farmers on Tuesday entered the Red Fort complex in New Delhi to hoist flags. They entered after clashing with policemen, who fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The order seen in the televised footage of the disciplined parade to mark Republic Day stood in sharp contrast to the melee that took place in the capital and the lingering swirls of tear gas.
Thousands of farmers assembled at the Red Fort, a historic monument from whose ramparts the prime minister addresses the nation on Republic Day.
“Modi will hear us now, he will have to hear us now,” said Sukhdev Singh, 55, a farmer from the state of Punjab.
From the northern part of Delhi, they went to its centre housing the government buildings. They made use of cranes and ropes to pull down barricades.
A second wave of farmers rode tractors to make it to a key traffic junction after clashing with police and tearing down barricades. Local television channel footage revealed several wounded protesters.
Protest organiser Samyukt Kisan Morcha said the groups swerving from set routes did not represent the majority of farmers.
“None of the leaders disappeared,” the grouping of farm unions said in a statement. “They are following the set routes.”
