Tear gas fired as angry Indian farmers breach barricades in tractor rally on Republic Day

Name: One dead as thousands of farmers storm India’s Red Fort
Uploaded: 2021-01-26T07:01:30.000Z
Duration: 3 min 3 s
Description: One dead as thousands of farmers storm India’s Red Fort

The farmers have been camped out on the outskirts of India’s capital for two months protesting new laws which deregulate produce markets

Authorities had agreed to let their tractor rally go ahead as long as they waited for a military parade to finish – which the farmers weren’t willing to do

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Farmers take part in a tractor rally in New Delhi to protest against new farm laws. Photo: Reuters

Associated Press

Published: 3:01pm, 26 Jan 2021Updated: 5:01am, 27 Jan 2021

Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.

They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence.

Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones.

Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest.

For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialise agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five. “We will not surrender.”

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One dead as thousands of farmers storm India’s Red Fort

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at numerous places to push back the rows upon rows of tractors, which shoved aside concrete and steel barricades. Authorities blocked roads with large trucks and buses in an attempt to stop the farmers from reaching the centre of the capital.