An ambulance passes amid a protest site in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi:
The nationwide call for a Bharat Bandh against the government’s new farm laws has seen protesters blocking roads in a number of states.
On the Chandigarh-Ambala highway, Congress workers have been protesting in the middle of the streets, lying down on the road amid heavy sloganeering, shows videos. Policemen are seen around the protesters, possibly asking them to move to let vehicles pass through.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, protesters can be seen making way for an ambulance at a protest site. “Ambulance hai, koi baat nahi. Nikalne do (It’s an ambulance, no problem. Let it through),” protesters are heard saying as they let an ambulance pass in the state’s Hapur district.
#BharatBandh | Traffic disrupted, Congress workers protest in the middle of Chandigarh-Ambala highway along with heavy sloganeering
NDTV’s Mohammed Ghazali shares this video pic.twitter.com/dhA9jS772F
— NDTV (@ndtv) December 8, 2020
Police in Delhi and Haryana, where large numbers of farmers have set up camp amid police barricades, have issued traffic advisories. Protesters have emphasised this will be a “peaceful protest” and emergency services like ambulances will not be stopped. Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, have backed the protest call.
#BharatBandh | “Ambulance hai, koi baat nahi. Nikalne do,” protesters can be heard saying in this video as they make way for an ambulance to pass through an otherwise blocked highway in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur
Video via NDTV’s Alok Pandey | #farmersprotestpic.twitter.com/sIMJuKpQMY
— NDTV (@ndtv) December 8, 2020
The videos show two sides of the powerful protests that has shaken the country. Thousands of farmers have been protesting for over 11 days now at four busy entry points to Delhi demanding the scrapping of the new farm laws.
Five rounds of meetings – the sixth is tomorrow – has failed to break the deadlock between the government and the farmers who insist on nothing less than total deletion of the new laws.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called farmers for talks this evening, a day before the sixth round of negotiations to end the massive and widespread protests against the contentious laws.
