SHAMBHU, India: Indian police used tear gas and pepper spray against dozens of farmers who began marching from Punjab state along a key highway to Delhi on Friday to demand better prices for their crops.
The confrontation took place just over 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital as about 100 farmers, most from the northern breadbasket state, attempted to resume their ‘Delhi Chalo’ (Let’s go to Delhi) march, blocked since February.
Farmers broke through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said before the march got under way that it would go as far as security forces allowed.
“We will be only around 100 people so it is not like we can break police barricades,” Pandher said.
The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver, and say the government must honor a promise to double their incomes.
They have been camped at Shambhu on Punjab’s border with neighboring Haryana state since February, when police halted their march.
The Haryana government on Friday suspended mobile Internet and bulk text message services in some places until Dec. 9 to “stop the spread of misinformation and rumors,” and police said “sufficient force” had been deployed to maintain law and order.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not comment on Friday’s protests, but Haryana senior minister Anil Vij, who is from Modi’s party, said the farmers would need to secure permission if they wanted to proceed to Delhi.
Modi’s government was forced to repeal some farm laws in 2021 after a year-long protest by farmers when they camped outside Delhi for months.
A spokesperson for India’s main opposition Congress party said it “fully supports” the farmers’ demands.
Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices
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Police prevent Indian Punjabi farmers marching to Delhi to demand better prices
- Farmers break through one layer of police barricades only to find security forces waiting behind iron crowd control barriers
- The farmers are demanding legal guarantees of more state support for crops and a debt waiver
Ukraine backs Pope’s call for Olympic truce in war with Russia
KYIV: Ukraine has backed a call for a ceasefire in the war with Russia during the Winter Olympics after Italy and Pope Leo urged world leaders to use the Milano Cortina games to further peace.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters that Ukraine supported the proposal during the February 6–22 Winter Olympics and a corresponding United Nations resolution calling for a global truce. He said it was up to Russia to clarify its position.
“We support this appeal,” he said in an interview in Kyiv. “We are interested in a ceasefire and if Russia once again rejects, it will once again confirm who is the obstacle for peace and who wants to continue this war.”
Pope Leo on Sunday invoked what he said was the ancient tradition of the Olympic truce and called on people in positions of power to take real steps toward de-escalation and dialogue in the name of peace.
Ukraine is locked in brutal fighting with Russia nearly four years after Moscow’s troops poured over the border in a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian forces occupy nearly a fifth of Ukraine and have been bombarding the power grid.
The United States is trying to broker a settlement and has held rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia in an effort to end the war.
“Let’s stop and it will definitely open a path for broader peace negotiations,” Sybiha said.
