Farmers’ Protest: Police Cut Off Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur from Capital

While the huge turnout of farmers to join the anti-farm legislations protests at the gates of Delhi refuses to ebb, the Delhi Police have put up new – accentuated – barriers to isolate the protest sites, both in terms of physical access and flow of information.

From increased deployment of security personnel to multi-layered barricading along with late night images of trenches being dug up, social media was abuzz on Monday, February 1, with the clampdown on the farmers’ protest, that have been ongoing peacefully for over two months now, at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders of the national capital.

The media reports detail the sequestering of these protest sites, that came a day after internet services were suspended at all the three spots by the Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry.

At Singhu border, the movement of people and supplies was disrupted as police installed a four-layered barricading on the main highway connecting Delhi with Haryana, Hindustan Times reported. Additionally, multiple trenches have been dug up on the roads that lead up to the protest site by the police, as images on social media show, reportedly “to seal the entry to the protest” site.

Resultantly, general public along with journalists are facing difficulty in reaching the protest site since they are being forced to take alternative routes, videos on the social media showed on Monday.

Notably, the cordoning off of the Singhu border came days after some alleged local residents, wielding sticks, conveniently managed to reach close to the tents put up by the camping farmers and pelted stones amid heavy sloganeering. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), which also alleged that petrol bombs were hurled at the protesting farmers near their stage, has accused the ruling “Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh” for the attack.

In another incident, spikes were installed at the Tikri Border late yesterday night (January 31) on the road leading up to the protest site from the national capital, possibly to prevent the movement of tractors, if it comes to that, towards Delhi. 

This is what they did at Tikri last night. #Tikri #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/t9Sg29PUzp

— Amaan (@amaanbali) February 1, 2021

This comes in the backdrop of the Republic Day controversy, when a wayward contingent of farmers flouted the agreed route of the “tractor parade” and barged inside the Red Fort premises where they hoisted the Sikh pennant Nishan Sahib and multiple union flags on the 17th century monument.

At Ghazipur border, according to The Telegraph, a concrete mixer was at work pouring cement mixture between two barricades to build a wall, along with a barbed wire fence that was installed on Sunday.

Also see: Modi ji, Why Suppress Farmers' Voices by Cutting Internet Connections?

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the internet suspension at the three border protest sites will continue till February 2.

The Delhi Police has maintained that the beefing up of the security at the border protest sites is being done to avoid “further clash” between the farmers and the local people, even as the leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body that is spearheading the farmers’ agitation, have maintained that the clampdown is an attempt to prevent “real facts”.

“We have beefed up the security to avoid any further clashes between the farmers and the locals, who say their businesses have been affected for over two months due to agitation...” Hindustan Times reported Sanjay Singh, special commissioner of police (law and order, west zone), as saying. 

The SKM, on the other hand, has accused the police of “encouraging” various attacks on peaceful protesters. “It is clear that the police is encouraging various attacks on peaceful protestors,” the umbrella body had said in a statement on January 30.

On the other hand, as NewsClick had earlier reported, the shopkeepers and residents of Haridas Nagar, a locality nearby Tikri Border, have rubbished the claims of experiencing ‘inconvenience’ at the cost of farmers. Similar sentiments have been expressed by those residing in the localities near the other two protest sites – Singhu and Ghazipur – too.

“The government does not want the real facts to reach protesting farmers, nor their peaceful conduct to reach the world. It wants to spread its false spin around farmers,” the SKM said on Sunday, adding that the Centre is “fearful” of the “coordinated work” of the farmers’ unions across different protest sites. Thus, it is resorting to “undemocratic and illegal” means to “cut off” communication means between them, the umbrella body said.

Also read: ‘The More Govt. Intimidates Us, the Stronger Movement Will Get,’ Says a Rejuvenated Tikri Border