Indian police fire tear gas as protesting farmers march to capital
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Transcript
00:00 Indian security forces have fired tear gas to stop thousands of farmers demanding minimum
00:06 crop prices from marching on to the capital New Delhi. This after talks with the government failed.
00:12 Tear gas was used to disperse protesters near Ambala, some 200 kilometers north of the capital.
00:18 The farmers are renewing their demands for assured crop prices in a repeat of the 2021
00:24 protests where they camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for more than a year.
00:29 Let's cross now to talk to France 24's Pavni Mittal who's in New Delhi.
00:33 In regards to today's protests, what indeed is the latest, Pavni?
00:37 Well, the situation is tense and authorities are cracking down on these farmers who want to march
00:45 to New Delhi as a sign of their protest and with their demands. As you said, police have fired
00:52 tear gas on these farmers 200 kilometers from where we are. The city of Delhi itself has seen
00:59 a lot of security been beefed up. The borders are all but sealed. You have barbed wires, fencing
01:06 and cement blocks to prevent the farmers from reaching their destination. Large gatherings have
01:15 also been banned in Delhi and parts of these neighboring states where the farmers will be
01:20 coming from. In some districts nearing Delhi, internet has also been suspended till later today.
01:27 Now, this march continues even though farmers unions, and there are about 200 farmers unions
01:33 that are participating, held two rounds of talks with government officials. They managed some
01:39 breakthrough on some demands, but the big key demands have still not been, there's been no
01:45 commitment from the government. That's what farmers are saying. The biggest of these is
01:49 that farmers want the government to guarantee them a minimum price for their produce. They also said
01:57 that government had promised that it will do whatever it can to double farmers' incomes.
02:03 Farmers say that their protest is not going to stop and that on Friday, which is the 16th,
02:09 they plan to hold strikes across the country. There will be no farm work or shops will also
02:15 be closed and they plan to block major highways in India. Pavani, why are the farmers resuming
02:22 their protests at this point in time? The scale and the style of this protest
02:30 reminds everybody here of what happened in 2020 when thousands of farmers from these very states
02:37 camped on the borders of New Delhi for about a year. That protest was over three controversial
02:44 reforms passed by the government in the agriculture sector that farmers said actually only benefited
02:51 corporations and left them worse off. The protest was largely peaceful, but there were skirmishes
02:59 and some farmers even died. Finally, at the end of 2021, after immense pressure and farmers refusing
03:06 to back down, the government did something that it usually doesn't do, and that is repeal these
03:12 laws. It also said it will constitute panels and do research and survey to address these farmers'
03:18 concerns. Now, since then, farm unions have held sporadic protests in New Delhi, but this sort of
03:27 a protest comes at a time when farmers know that they have leverage against the government.
03:32 India is heading in for general elections in a couple of months, and farmers, particularly
03:38 in North India, are a critical voting bloc. So they know that coming with such force and
03:44 showing this sort of unity is an opportunity and time for them.