Farm activists detained to quell protest in Punjab CM’s home district of Sangrur
250 police personnel deployed to manage situation, nine buses stationed to take away the protesters.
Tension between farmers and police escalated in Sangrur, the home district of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, on Thursday when activists of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azad) were forcibly taken away in buses to prevent them from protesting outside the deputy commissioner’s office.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sukhdev Singh said 250 police personnel were deployed to manage the situation at the protest site. Nine buses were stationed to take away the protesters to police stations across the district, including those in Cheema, Longowal, Dirba, and Sangrur.
Among those detained were Jaswinder Singh Longowal, the state president of BKU (Ekta-Azad).
The police action followed the detention of Samyukt Kisan Morcha Non-Political leaders, including Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher, in Mohali on Wednesday along with protesters at Shambhu and Khanauri borders.
Eye-witnesses claimed the police resorted to thrashing the protesters. Women protesters were not spared by the women police personnel, they said.
Baljeet Kaur, a BKU Ekta-Azad, woman leader, who was among those detained, raised slogans against the AAP government in Punjab for evicting the protesters. She said that chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who claimed to be the voice of the people, was acting like a dictator out to suppress the rights of farmers.
