The farmers pulled aside the barriers at Tikri on the Delhi-Haryana border
New Delhi:
A group of farmers – who have braved tear gas, lathi charges and physical violence to march to the national capital and protest the centre’s farm laws – swung into action on Saturday morning, pushing aside the yellow police barricades to allow an ambulance through from Haryana to Delhi.
In a heart-warming video, as an ambulance approached police barriers set up at Tikri on the Delhi-Haryana border, a group of farmers reacted instantly, running to pull them to one side of the highway and make room for the emergency vehicle.
This was the third time in the past 30 minutes that the farmers – vilified by some on social media for their protests – put their problems aside to potentially help save an unknown person’s life.
A similar video has emerged online – parts of which were shared on social media on Thursday to highlight the violence of the protest – in which farmers can be seen throwing police barricades off a bridge in Haryana to allow an ambulance through.
Farmers from several states – including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab – began their march on Delhi on Thursday. Along the way the police in BJP-ruled Haryana, who have been criticised for their handling of the farmers’ march, even dug up roads to act as trenches.
Visuals of the clashes showed scenes that wouldn’t look out of place in a war zone.
Undaunted, the farmers pressed on and reached the Delhi border on Friday morning, where they were met with more police barriers and tear gas. They come with tractors carrying food and essential supplies, and have said they would not return until the centre had repealed the farm laws.
“We’ve got food rations for six months. We’ll go back after getting rid of the black agriculture laws which are against farmers,” a protester at Singhu border, near outer Delhi’s Narela, said.
The protest, planned for over two months, has the support of 500 farmers’ organisations.
The farmers are protesting laws the centre says will reform the agricultural sector by removing middlemen and improving farmers’ earnings by allowing them to sell produce anywhere in the country.
Farmers and opposition parties allege that the laws will deprive the farmers of guaranteed minimum price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of corporates.