A protester died near Delhi’s ITO during Republic Day tractor rally on Tuesday after he was reportedly shot at by the Delhi Police. The incident took place near the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg where a toppled tractor was also seen. It is being reported that the farmer was on the tractor that met with an accident.
Chaotic scenes were witnessed at ITO, where hundreds of protesters could be seen chasing police personnel with sticks and ramming their tractors into the buses parked by police.
At the ITO, a bus was vandalised by angry farmers. Police on Tuesday fired tear gas shells and lathicharged farmers when they clashed with the force in parts of city
Police used tear gas on groups of farmers and resorted to baton charge as protestors broke past barricades with tractors at different border points and did not take the pre-decided routes for their march in the national capital.
The Delhi Police had given permission to farmers protesting the three farm laws to hold their tractor parade on selected routes only after the official Republic Day parade on the Rajpath concluded.
However chaos ensued as some farmers were adamant on heading towards central Delhi.
In the morning, groups of protesting farmers camping at Singhu and Tikri border points of the national capital broke police barricades to force their way into the city.
The ITO resembled a war zone as restive crowds of farmers and uniformed security personnel could be seen in the area. Police fired tear gas shells at hundreds of farmers who wielded sticks and clubs and entered ITO, a few kilometres away from Parliament, in an effort to move towards Rajpath.
Police baton charged farmers at Chintamani Chowk in Shahdara when they broke barricades and smashed window panes of cars. A group of 'Nihangs' (traditional Sikh warriors) clashed with security personnel near Akshardham Temple.
At Nangloi Chowk in west Delhi and at Mukarba Chowk farmers broke cemented barricades and police used tear gas to disperse them.
An official said police personnel used tear gas to disperse groups of farmers coming from the Singhu border point as they tried to hold a march on the Outer Ring Road much ahead of the allotted time.