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Farmers protest: Police's tear gas, pepper spray vs protesters' eyewear, wet jute bags
The Haryana police have been firing tear gas shells at regular intervals to disperse farmers.
As a group of farmers from Punjab attempted to enter Haryana for their march to Delhi over the MSP demand, the police on Sunday blocked their renewed push by reinforcing barricades. Apart from batons, the security personnel have employed some innovative techniques to prevent the farmers from charging into Haryana from the Shambhu border.
The Haryana police have been firing tear gas shells at regular intervals to disperse farmers from the barricading point. The police are also using pepper spray whenever an individual farmer reaches the spot.
The police are also telling the farmers to retract from the barricading point.
The barricades used for the security arrangements are multi-layered.
The farmers have also come fully equipped. They have covered their faces to mitigate the effects of the tear gas. They are also wearing protective eyewear. They are also attempting to neutralise tear gas shells by covering them with wet jute bags.
A group of 101 farmers resumed their foot march to Delhi from the Shambhu border, where they had been camping since their first attempt to march to the capital was foiled in February, to press their various demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).
Also read: Farmers to resume march to Delhi, security beefed up at Shambhu border
The police asked the farmers to show them the written permission for the march to Delhi. They said the group of farmers moving ahead did not match the list of 101 farmers permitted to participate in the march.
Also read: ‘Moving ahead as mob’: Police vs farmers over '101' list; tear gas shells lobbed
"We will first identify them (farmers) and then we can allow them to go ahead. We have a list of the names of 101 farmers, and they are not those people - they are not letting us identify them - they are moving ahead as a mob," said a Haryana police official.
A protesting farmer said they may have got the wrong list.
“The 'jattha' of our 101 farmers and labourers have reached. We have already issued the list, if they (the police) have decided that they will check the IDs first before allowing us to move, they should tell us we will cooperate with that. We have shown discipline and will continue to be so… They are using more tear gas today, as the wind direction is towards us. We are ready for any kind of sacrifice… It's the PM who has the solution for our problems, either he does it or lets us march to Delhi,” said farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
