Questions raised after police fail to stop breach

This was the first incident of violence at the protest site, and forced police to lob tear-gas shells and lathi-charge both farmers and the mob, who claimed to be local residents.

Multiple barricades, deep trenches, and at least 1,000 personnel of Delhi Police and paramilitary forces failed to stop a mob of 200 people from reaching the stage of the farmer protest at Singhu border, attacking the protesters with sticks, and pelting stones at them in a breach that sparked clashes at the site on Friday afternoon.

Security personnel deployed at Singhu (Delhi-Haryana border) during the ongoing protest against the new farm laws, in New Delhi(Sanchit Khanna/ Hindustan Times)

This was the first incident of violence at the protest site, and forced police to lob tear-gas shells and lathi-charge both farmers and the mob, who claimed to be local residents. Television visuals also showed police and some counter-protesters beating a farmer.

Many farmers at the site accused Delhi Police of being mute spectators while the mob came dangerously close to the farmers and attacked them. They also pointed out that the security forces had stopped several journalists and politicians from reaching the stage of the site earlier.

“If police wanted, they could have stopped those goons. Carrying national flags and shouting slogans, it was clear that they were protesting against us. Police should have stopped them from coming here. It wasn’t difficult to make out that they are not among us protesters. The violence could have been avoided,” said Joginder Kaur, 55, a farmer from Kot Budha village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab, who was near the stage when the violence started.

He was referring to videos on social media -- not verified independently -- that showed a group of men pelting stones while police personnel stood next to them. One video showed a masked man throwing stones. Another showed some police personnel in anti-riot gear standing during the stone pelting.

A photograph of a man, who was identified by many on social media as Aman Dabas, husband of Bharatiya Janata Party councillor from Bawana Anju Dabas, also went viral on social media. Anju Dabas confirmed her husband was in Singhu but said he was not there as a party representative. “He was there as any other local who is facing problem due to the ongoing agitation of farmers,” said Anju.

Delhi Police issued a statement, which said that around 1.30pm, around 200 locals reached the GTB Memorial, towards Singhu and went to meet the farmers. “They said they have been providing all kinds of help to protesters for last two months but now their livelihood is getting affected, hence they are requested to open the border and vacate the road,” a Delhi police spokesperson said.

“This was resisted by some farmers and pushing-pulling of the police barricades kept to secure the langar tents...during this stone pelting started,” the spokesperson added. The statement did not clarify which group pelted the stones.

A senior officer in Singhu said police did not let the locals reach the stage. “The place near the stage, where the locals reached today is an open area. People are free to walk until this point. After today’s incident, people will not be allowed to walk up to that point too,” said the officer.

Until late Friday, police arrested 44 persons from both sides.