Indian Protesting farmers reinforce after clash with police

Thousands of Indian farmers marched overnight to reinforce protesting colleagues camping out on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi, to press the government to withdraw three new farm laws that they say will hurt their livelihoods.

In a stand-off between riot police and the farmers, authorities tried to clear a protest site in the city’s east but most farmers refused to move and their leaders said any retreat would constitute surrender.

“Concerned over police high-handedness, thousands of farmers, who were not part of the protest, have now come to bolster our movement,” Rakesh Tikait, president of one of the largest farmers’ unions, the Bharti Kisan Union, said on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced the new agricultural laws in September, triggering a wave of protests and sit-ins on some of the major approaches to New Delhi.

The government says the reforms will open up new opportunities for farmers and it says it will not bow to the protesters’ demands.

Farm leaders say the laws are an attempt to erode a longstanding mechanism that ensures farmers a minimum support price for their rice and wheat.

India’s President, Ram Nath Kovind told parliament on Friday that the three farm laws passed by the Indian government provide farmers new rights along with protecting their existing rights and facilities.

Farmer leaders have accused authorities of acting at the behest of politicians affiliated with Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Union leader Tikait comes from a politically influential farming community in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state in the north.

In several villages, members of the dominant Jat community will gather on Friday to support the protest.

The protest turned violent on Tuesday, when India celebrated its Republic Day with a military parade, when some protesters broke away from a procession of tractors to break through barricade and clash with police.

Angry at what they see as laws that benefit large private buyers at the expense of growers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped peacefully at sites on the outskirts of Delhi for more than two months.

But a procession of tractors on Tuesday when the country was marking its founding as a republic turned violent when some protesters deviated from pre-agreed routes, tearing down barricades and clashing with police who responded with tear gas.

Reuters