Tens of Thousands of Farmers Swarm India’s Capital to Protest Deregulation Rules
By Julia Hollingsworth, Swati Gupta and Esha Mitra
Tens of thousands of farmers have swarmed India’s capital where they intend to camp out for weeks to protest new agricultural laws that they say could destroy their livelihoods.
Farmers from the nearby states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh began arriving by tractors and on foot at the outskirts of New Delhi last week, where they blocked roads and set up makeshift camps, according to protest leaders. Some slept on the road or in their tractors, and several places of worship offered protesters food.
Police attempted to block demonstrators from entering the city. They fired tear gas and water cannons Thursday and Friday after protesters pelted police officers with stones and damaged public property, according to Manoj Yadav, a senior police official from Haryana.
Photo courtesy of mmamontov.
Source: CNN (link opens in a new window)
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Tags
- governance
