Authorities in Uttar Pradesh state call for Ghazipur protest camp to be cleared, but farmers say they would not budge.
from https://www.aljazeera.com/news shared with thanks 29 Jan 2021
Farmers arrive with blankets and mattresses for others at the Ghazipur site outside New Delhi [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Thousands of Indian farmers marched overnight to reinforce protesting colleagues camping out on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi, to press the government to withdraw three new farm laws they say will hurt their livelihoods.
In a standoff between riot police and the farmers, authorities on Thursday tried to clear a protest site at Ghazipur in the cityâs east but most farmers refused to move and their leaders said any retreat would constitute surrender.
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âConcerned over police high-handedness, thousands of farmers, who were not part of the protest, have now come to bolster our movement,â Rakesh Tikait, president of one of the largest farmers unions, the Bharatiya Kisan Union, told Reuters news agency on Friday.
Farmers say they would not budge.
âEven if the police comes, we will sit here, peacefully, until the laws are repealed,â Bhagwant Singh, 53, a farmer from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, told the AFP news agency at the site.
Farmer leaders have accused authorities in Uttar Pradesh of acting at the behest of politicians affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modiâs ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Union leader Tikait comes from a politically influential farming community in Uttar Pradesh, Indiaâs most populous state in the north.
On Thursday evening, he issued an emotional appeal to the nation to support their protest and declared he is âready to face bulletsâ if needed.
In several villages, members of the dominant Jat community will gather on Friday to support the protest.
Tuesdayâs deadly violence
The police order to close Ghazipur camp came after violence during a âtractor rallyâ organised by thousands of farmers in New Delhi as India celebrated its Republic Day on Tuesday.
Some protesters broke away from the procession of tractors to break through barricades and clash with police, leaving one person dead and at least 400 injured..
A day later, farmer unions scrapped next weekâs planned march on parliament on February 1, the day when the government unveils its annual budget, although nationwide rallies were still planned on Sunday.
Police sealed the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border, while two key borders where farmers are protesting â Singhu, the epicentre of the two-month-old protests and Tikri â were placed under heavy security.
Tensions were high at the Singhu camp with many protesters carrying a stick, sword or axe â and even enormous ladles used in giant cooking pots at the campâs kitchens â while regular announcements over a public annoucement system in Punjabi told people to stay awake and alert.
Two roads blocked by the protesters for weeks were cleared late Wednesday as two unions out of the 42 representing the farmers withdrew from the protest, each blaming other groups for Tuesdayâs events.
âI am so ashamed and sad about [Tuesday] that I announce an end to our 58-day-long sit-in protest at this [Delhi] border,â one union leader, Bhanu Pratap Singh, announced on Wednesday.
Delhi police have signalled a tough line, saying they are studying footage and using face-recognition technology to identify and arrest those involved in the violence.
A makeshift school has been set up in the farmers encampment.
On Wednesday, police commissioner SN Shrivastava said the farmer unions, having promised that Tuesdayâs tractor rallies would stick to agreed routes, had âbackstabbedâ the authorities.
âIt was a minor blip. The government planned it and changed the direction of our tractor march, and they intentionally directed us towards the city centre,â Baljinder Singh, 32, from the northern state of Punjab, told AFP on Wednesday at Singhu.
Twitter has also suspended several hundred accounts, most of them outside India, which were sharing âfake and inflammatoryâ reports to incite religious or regional violence around the protest, Shrivastava said.
Farming has long been a political minefield, with nearly 70 percent of the 1.3-billion-strong population drawing their livelihood from agriculture.
The government says the industry is incredibly inefficient and in need of reform. But protesters fear the new laws deregulating the sector will leave them at the mercy of big corporations. Source : Al Jazeera and News agencies
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