Farmers storm Red Fort as protest gets unruly on Republic Day

Wielding sticks and clubs and holding the Tricolour and union flags, tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors broke barriers, clashed with police and entered Delhi from various points to lay siege to the Red Fort and climb a flagpole, marring Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday.

While farmer leaders, who have been spearheading the two-month protest at the national capital's border points to demand a repeal of the farm laws, disowned the protesters, one young man was seen hoisting a yellow triangular flag at a flagpole on the ramparts of the iconic monument.

The protesters were later removed from the premises of the Red Fort. The government also ordered internet services to be shut in parts of Delhi as a security measure. As per an order sent to telecom service providers internet was suspended in areas of Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri, Mukarba Chowk and Nangloi and their adjoining areas in the NCT of Delhi from 12.00 hours to 23.59 hours on Tuesday.

At night, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha called off the tractor parade and appealed to participants to immediately return to their respective protest sites.

Farmers continued to camp at several places in the national capital till late evening and there was no pre-decided time for concluding the parade.

"We have called off the farmers' Republic Day parade with immediate effect and appealed to all participants to immediately return back to their respective protest sites. The movement will continue peacefully and further steps will be discussed and decided soon," the farmers' union body said in a statement.

Eclipsing the annual show of military might at Rajpath, the farmers who were supposed to take out a tractor parade on pre-decided routes after the Republic Day event was over, breached both conditions. Clashes and lathi-charges broke out in many places between a section of the protesters, many of them young, vocal and aggressive, and police personnel.

If police used teargas shells to disperse the restive crowds in some places, hundreds of farmers at ITO were seen chasing them with sticks and ramming their tractors into parked buses. A protester died after his tractor overturned.

ITO resembled a war zone with a car being vandalised by angry protesters and shells, bricks and stones littering the wide streets, testimony that the avowedly “peaceful” farmers’ movement of two months was no longer so.

Farmers on horses

As the day progressed and thousands of farmers roamed restlessly, thousands more congregated at Red Fort on foot, tractor and some even on horses -- about 4km from ITO.

In unprecedented scenes, protesters entered the complex of the Mughal era monument and attempted to climb the domes and the ramparts, some clambering up the flagpole to hoist a flag from the same place the Prime Minister unfurls the Tricolour from on Independence Day.

Tension spiralled as the crowds swelled. Pushed back by police from ITO, some protesting farmers drove their tractors to Red Fort complex. Uniformed security personnel looked on as people gathered in larger numbers. Though there were no immediate reports of injuries, ambulances could be seen entering the Red Fort complex. There was a mild lathi-charge with police removing protesting farmers from the Red Fort.

The tension was mirrored elsewhere in the city too. Police lathi-charged farmers at Chintamani Chowk in Shahdara when they broke barricades and smashed windowpanes of cars.

A group of Nihangs (traditional Sikh warriors) clashed with security personnel near Akshardham Temple. And at Nangloi Chowk in west Delhi and at Mukarba Chowk farmers broke cemented barricades forcing police to use tear gas.

Farmers’ collective disowns protesters

As chaos reigned with flashpoints aplenty, farm union leaders distanced themselves from what was going on. "We condemn violence against farmers, appeal to all to maintain peace," Balbir Singh Rajewal, one of the leaders, told PTI.

A member of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, unions, leading the protest against the three central farm laws at several border points of Delhi, said those who broke the barricades at Tikri border points belonged to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee.

The Sangharsh committee had on Monday announced that its members would hold their march on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road on Republic Day, and not on the route that was agreed upon by the Morcha and Delhi police.

Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav also said he was appealing with folded hands for peace. “Today is Republic Day,” he said. Later, the Morcha leader said their tractor parade would start as scheduled after police gave them way.

Songs and a merry cavalcade

The day began on a celebratory note with farmers chanting 'Rang de basanti' and 'Jai jawan jai kisan' crossing the national border on tractors, motorbikes, horses and even cranes. Local residents stood on both sides of the roads at various locations showering flower petals on them.

Standing atop vehicles decked up with flags, protesters danced to the tune of patriotic songs like Aisa desh hai mera and Sare jahan se achcha.

But the mood changed soon after. Delhi Police appealed to protesting farmers to not take the law into their hands and maintain peace as the violence broke out. The police also asked farmers to head back to their pre-decided routes for the tractor parade.