In Haryana, farmers again brave tear gas, water cannons

CHANDIGARH/SONIPAT/AMBALA: Farmers marched through Haryana again on Friday, breaking barricades as they faced water cannons and tear gas at various district border points across the state.
The Haryana police again sealed the borders in Ambala for over half-a-day at Shambhu on NH-44 and Sadopur on NH-152. Heavy police force was deputed at both borders and hundreds of protesting farmers started gathering at the barricades demanding a peaceful entry.
Protesters breached all barriers and crossed: IGP
The Haryana police officials asked the farmers to return to Punjab, saying they would not be allowed to move towards Delhi.Soon, the protestors gathered in large numbers and started removing police barricades with force to clear their passage.
The police resorted to the use of tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse the gathering for about two hours, but the farmers managed to breach the barricades on the bridge of Ghaggar river on NH-44 near Shambhu. In a confrontation with the police, the protestors also pelted stones and threw the police barricades into the Ghaggar and outnumbered them to march towards Delhi.
Similar barricades were laid by police near Teora-Teori villages on NH in Kurukshetra district but no confrontation took place at this spot on the day. Farmers linked to BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) also broke through police barricades at Khanauri and Dabwali border points between Punjab and Haryana and activists of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) also began their march to Delhi from Amritsar on Friday. Around 50,000 farmers from Punjab entered Haryana along with around 10,000 vehicles from Data Singh Wala border in Patiala district.
All Haryana Police barricades were lifted by late Friday afternoon and traffic was allowed to run after the Delhi police relented and allowed the farmers to enter and assemble at the Nirankari grounds near Burari in north Delhi.
The Delhi police used tear gas and water cannons to prevent the farmers from entering the national capital from the Singhu border. There were clashes at Tikri border.
“Since Delhi has permitted them to enter and we received the orders to open up so we have lifted all barricades. Some confrontation took place at Shambhu as 500-600 people had gone and we tried to stop them for about two hours. But ultimately they breached the barricades and crossed,” Ambala range inspector general of police (IGP) Y Puran Kumar said.