Farmers protest: March halted for night, 60 injured amid chaos at Haryana-Punjab border

The protesting farmer unions have decided to pause their march towards Delhi for the night. They have said the protest will resume on Wednesday morning. 

Meanwhile, the unions have said around 100 farmers were injured throughout the day as they faced water cannons and tear gas at the Punjab-Haryana border.

Haryana Police detained protesting farmers at Shambhu along the border with Punjab on Tuesday after they pelted stones, damaged a bridge and forcibly tried to remove barricades that were erected to halt their march to Delhi.

The Punjab Police allowed protesting farmers to cross the Rajpura bypass as they headed towards Haryana's Ambala en route to Delhi to press for their demands. However, tensions escalated at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border as protesting farmers attempted to break cement barricades with their tractors.

As farmers attempted to breach the tight security, a few were seen vandalising the bridge and throwing a police barricade off the structure.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. According per media, some tear gas shells were deployed using drones. They also resorted to using water cannons on the rampaging farmers.

Over 200 farmer unions decided to press ahead with the 'Delhi Chalo' protest march after a crucial meeting between farmer leaders and Union ministers ended without a resolution late Monday night.

Despite hours of dialogue, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on key demands. The government, however, said a consensus was reached on most issues and a formula was proposed for resolving some others through the formation of a committee.

In anticipation of the farmers’ agitation, the Delhi Police have ramped up security measures, imposing restrictions on gatherings and fortifying borders to maintain order.

Border crossings linking Delhi to its surrounding satellite towns are heavily congested due to numerous diversions ahead of the large-scale farmers' march towards the national capital. Long lines of vehicles were observed at the Ghazipur and Chilla borders, linking Delhi with Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.