NEW DELHI (AP) – Thousands of protesting Indian farmers have blocked highways across the country for several hours to suppress their demands for the repeal of new agricultural laws that have led to months of massive protests.
The protesters used tractors, trucks and even rocks to block the roads. They wore banners and flags denouncing the laws, which they said would leave poorer and at the mercy of corporations.
“We will continue to fight to our last breath,” said 80-year-old Jhajjan Singh, a farmer at a protest site in Ghazipur. Premier Narendra “Modi must know that he will stay, or we will.”
Authorities have deployed thousands of security forces, mostly outside India’s capital, where farmers have been camping at three main sites for more than two months. The farmers said they would not leave until the government withdrew the laws.
Saturday’s blockade began at noon and lasted for three hours. No violence was reported immediately.
Several rounds of talks between farmers and the government yielded no breakthroughs. The government has said the laws are necessary to modernize Indian agriculture.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar defended laws in parliament on Friday, suppressing the hope of a speedy settlement because he made no new offer to resume talks with the farmers.
The protests turned violent on January 26, Indian Republic Day, when a group of farmers riding on tractors sank off the protest route and stormed the 17th-century Red Fort.. Hundreds of police officers were injured, as well as numerous farmers. One protester is dead.
Boer leaders condemned the violence, but said they would not stop the protest.
Authorities have since stepped up security at protest sites outside the New Delhi borderand added iron spikes and steel barriers to prevent farmers from entering the capital.
Meanwhile, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on authorities and protesters to exercise ‘maximum control’.
‘The rights to peaceful assembly and expression must be protected both offline and online. It is crucial to find fair solutions, taking into account #HumanRights for all, “the UN body said in a tweet late Friday.