Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday afternoon held a high-level meeting with top security officials and police officers to take stock of the situation after the tractor rally being organised by farmers protesting against the three farm laws turned violent. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava were also present in the meeting and the Union Home Minister was briefed on the clashes that erupted earlier
The protests by farmers in New Delhi turned violent after thousands of farmers breached barricades at the borders and deviated from the agreed routes between them and the police for their tractor rally. The farmers entered areas in Central Delhi, including Red Fort and ITO, and a Sikh flag was hoisted onto one of the poles inside Red Fort.
A protester had also died near the ITO intersection during the tractor rally after his tractor overturned. The incident took place near the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg where a toppled tractor was also seen and it was also reported that the farmer was on the tractor when he had met with an accident. Chaotic scenes were also reported in the area where hundreds of protesters were reportedly chasing police personnel with sticks and ramming their tractors into the buses parked by the police. Visuals from many places also showed some police personnel lathicharging the protesters.
Internet connection has been suspended in New Delhi and its neighbourhood after the clashes between the farmers and the police and reports say that the Home Minister is also mulling the deployment of paramilitary forces in Delhi.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have been camping at several points on the outskirts of since November 28, and have been protesting against the recent farm laws introduced by the Union government.