Amritsar: 30 farmers, 20 cops injured in clash

Nearly 30 farmers, including women, were injured after police cane charged them late Friday to rescue the electricity officials taken hostage during a protest outside the Powercom office.

Nearly 30 farmers, including women, were injured after police cane charged them late Friday to rescue the electricity officials taken hostage during a protest outside the Powercom office.

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Nearly 20 cops, including the superintendent of police, were also injured in the clash in which the force also propelled teargas shells into the crowd but denied opening fire. The mob pelted the police vehicles were stones.

The trouble began when the agitating farmers declined to end the protest and release the hostages from the Ajnala Road office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). Talks turned heated when police started bundling a few farmers into vehicles in a sign of rounding up. In no time, it turned into a cane charge and the farmers retaliated with stones.

To control the 2,000 famers, extra force was pressed in. It required many ambulances to pick up the injured. Farmers claim their demonstration was peaceful until police provoked them by using force against women. The farmers raised slogans against the state government and police for the way they had been thrashed.

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