Chaotic scenes unfolded within the nationwide capital on Republic Day after protesting farmers clashed with the police, broke barricades and stormed the Red Fort. After violence erupted in a number of areas of New Delhi, lots of of protesters had been seen chasing police personnel with sticks and ramming their tractors into the buses parked by police.
After deviating from the pre-decided route for a tractor rally, a gaggle of protesting farmers breached barricades and entered the Red Fort. In unprecedented scenes, protesters entered the complicated of the Mughal-era monument and tried to climb the domes and the ramparts, some clambering up the flagpole to hoist a flag from the identical place the prime minister unfurls the tricolour from on Independence Day. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has dissociated itself from ‘the violent elements’.
While one protestor was killed throughout the violence, as many as 80 Delhi police personnel had been injured. Internet was additionally shut down in elements of Delhi and neighbouring areas.
Here is how the worldwide media lined the farmers’ protest
The New York Times
The New York Times stated that the occasions in New Delhi “prompted the police to fire tear gas” and threw into chaos an occasion that posed “a direct challenge” to the central authorities.
“It was unclear whether the security forces, or the farm leaders who appeared to have lost control, could push the protesters out of the city and back to the campsites they have occupied for the past two months at the capital’s borders,” an article stated.
It additionally spoke concerning the Republic Day parade, which was held simply hours earlier than violence broke out saying, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi oversaw a lavish military parade, and news channels showed surreal scenes of Mr. Modi saluting officers as chaos broke out in several parts of the city just a few miles away.”
Further speaking concerning the occasions that unfolded within the capital, the article stated: “The demonstration, after the central government failed in its frantic efforts to prevent the tractor march, illustrated how deeply the deadlock with the farmers has embarrassed Mr. Modi. Although he has emerged as India’s most dominant figure after crushing his political opposition, the farmers have been persistent.”
BBC
In a information report, the BBC reported the incident saying that farmers at a number of entry factors appeared to have adopted the agreed routes, nonetheless, a piece of protesters broke via police barricades and entered the capital.
“Images from the ITO metro station junction – which is on the route to central Delhi – showed police clashing with protesting farmers and using tear gas and batons against them. Protesters driving tractors appeared to be deliberately trying to run over police personnel. Local media reported injuries on both sides,” the report learn.
Citing its India correspondents, the BBC stated protesters outnumbered the police on the ITO junction, leaving them struggling to manage the group.
“Mr Modi and cabinet ministers watched the official parade on Tuesday morning, but did not encounter any protesters. They were driven back to their residences before the farmers reached central Delhi,” it stated.
The Guardian
The Guardian, too, stated that Tuesday’s “chaotic and violent” scenes overshadowed the nation’s Republic Day celebrations.
“Some protesters reached a junction about two miles from where the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and other government leaders watched tanks and troops parade past and fighter jets fly overhead,” it stated in a report.
Further remarking over the farmers’ protest within the nationwide capital, The Guardian wrote: “For more than two months, tens of thousands of farmers have been stationed in a huge protest camp around the peripheries of Delhi to demonstrate their fierce opposition to a series of new farm laws, which they say will destroy their livelihoods, offer no protection for crop prices and leave them at greater risk of losing their land.”
“Agriculture employs more than 40% of India’s population but it is a sector plagued by poverty and inefficiency, with farmers often selling their crops for one rupee,” it added.