Police on Tuesday used tear gas on protesting farmers who arrived at Delhi's Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar from Singhu border after isolated incidents of scuffle between the two sides were reported.
Thousands of farmers who have been protesting at the borders of the national capital for the past two months, broke police barricades on Tuesday morning to force their way into the city. Protestors also pushed through police barricading on Delhi-Meerut Expressway near Pandav Nagar.
The farmers broke barricades at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points much ahead of the time they were granted permission by Delhi Police for their tractor parade. On Sunday, Delhi Police had allowed the tractor rally after the annual Republic Day parade. The protesters were told they can't disrupt the celebrations at Rajpath even as the farmers insisted their parade will be "peaceful".
However, a group of farmers marched on foot in large numbers holding flags of different farmer unions and raising slogans. People also perched atop their tractors and raised slogans and sang revolutionary songs.
A member of the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 unions, leading the protest against the three central farm laws, said those who broke the barricades belonged to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. He said the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha's tractor parade will start as scheduled after police give farmers way.
SS Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police at Singhu Border told ANI news agency: "They have cooperated with us and we are cooperating with them. It is our request that they continue to follow the route they are currently on".
However, a farmer from Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said that the route the police was asking them to follow wasn't agreed upon. Satnam Singh Pannu, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said, "We've to move towards Ring Road but police is stopping us. We've given them 45 mins to speak to their seniors. We're carrying out a peaceful parade. The route they are asking us to follow wasn't agreed upon".
Heavy security has been deployed in view of the 'Kisan Gantantra Parade' that will move into Delhi from the border points. Police patrolling has also been intensified at power substations in the national capital.
Around 6,000 security personnel have been deployed to maintain vigil. Facial recognition systems have also been set up at vantage points for suspect identification.