New Delhi Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Thursday that ‘hatred’ and ‘threats’ will not stop her from speaking out in support of thousands of Indian farmers living in a standoff with their government. Thunberg fired back online when police in India launched an investigation citing her tweets that targeted a poisoning on the internet.
“I am still #StandWithFarmers and support their peaceful protest. No amount of hatred, threats or human rights violations will ever change that. #FarmersProtest,” the young Swedish fighter wrote on Twitter.
Indian police have launched an investigation into what the government calls ‘propaganda’ by ‘vested interest groups’ to ‘mobilize international support against India’.
The investigation could include a number of social media posts, including Thunberg, in support of the months-long protest by farmers.
Delhi police quoted her tweets in a First Information Report (FIR), the first step in the investigation into Indian law, which alleges a ‘criminal conspiracy’ and an attempt to promote ‘hostility between different groups on land of religion, race, place of birth, place of residence, language … and acts detrimental to the maintenance of harmony, “according to the Indian newspaper NDTV.
Earlier on Thursday, Thunberg shared a “toolkit” in a Twitter message advising people on how to protest.
Delhi police said on Thursday that their investigation into an “overseas conspiracy” was not against Thunberg, but the “toolkit” she was tweeting, which they said was a Sikh separatist group.
Thunberg first expressed solidarity with the farmers after the pop star Rihanna draws worldwide attention to their protest against three controversial new farm laws. The protests have been simmering since November, with sometimes violent clashes in Delhi.
Altaf Qadri / AP
The Indian government took on the celebrities on Wednesday after their tweets attracted worldwide attention and dismissed the messages on social media as ‘sensationalist’ and ‘inaccurate or responsible’.
“The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when celebrities and others use them, is neither accurate nor responsible,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Several other public figures, including activists, and American politicians, also tweeted in support of the farmers.
“It’s no coincidence that the oldest democracy in the world was not even attacked a month ago, and as we speak, the most populous democracy is being assaulted. It’s related. We should all be furious about India’s internet locks and paramilitary violence against agricultural protesters, ‘wrote the niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris Meena Harris.
“The unfolding events in India are worrying. As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I keep a close eye on the situation. The right to peaceful protest must always be respected,” wrote US Representative Jim Costa, a Democrat from California, who in both serve. the Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees.
Hundreds of thousands of farmers in India have been locked in provocative opposition to the government since the end of last year due to three agrarian reform laws passed in September.
The government insists that the reforms will provide expanded market access and greater flexibility to farmers. But farmers say the measures will help big business and destroy the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. They demand to repeal all three laws in full.
Eleven rounds of talks between the leaders of the farm protests and the government of Modi could not resolve the battle.
India’s agricultural sector contributes nearly 15% to the $ 2.9 trillion economy, accounting for nearly half of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
The Indian government on Wednesday reiterated its justification for the reforms, claiming that only a ‘very small proportion of farmers in parts of India’ have ‘some reservations about these reforms’.
The government insisted that the laws be approved after a ‘full debate and debate’ in parliament.
Standoff around the capital
Indian police have made efforts to prevent the protesting farmers from re-entering the capital, ahead of a call for a second nationwide strike over the weekend in support of the protest.
The farmers on Saturday threatened to block roads across the country in protest against the harassment by government authorities, including the shutdown of water, power and internet services to the protest camps.
Manish Swarup / AP
Internet services were shut down earlier this week at three major access points on the highway to Delhi where farmers have been camping for more than two months.
Several Indian newspapers reported that the police had set up iron points, barbed wire and concrete walls at various access points to the capital.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian government to drop lawsuits against eight journalists arrested following the January 26 reports of protests and clashes.
MONEY SHARMA / AFP / Getty
“The Indian authorities’ response to the protests has focused on discrediting peaceful protesters, harassing criticism of the government and prosecuting those reporting on the events,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, director of HRW.
Warning to Twitter
The Indian government warned Twitter on Wednesday that it could take unspecified action against the social media platform for taking the step of “unilaterally” blocking more than 250 accounts it suspended on Monday at the request of the government over the use of a controversial account. hashtag associated with the farmer protests.
The government tagged the tweets using the hashtag, accusing officials of plotting a “genocide” of farmers as part of a “motivated campaign to abuse, inflate and undermine societal tensions” to create grounds’.
“Incitement to genocide is not freedom of speech; it is a threat to law and order,” the government insisted in its warnings to the social media company to comply.