(ANSA) - NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 30 - The mobilization of Indian farmers continues for the fifth consecutive day, tens of tens of thousands remain camped on the highways around the Singhu and Tikri border crossings, a few kilometers from the capital: the blocks are making a nightmare normal traffic to and within the city.
The "Dilli Chalo" was called by the peasant associations as a peaceful march that should have reached the center of Delhi, but was blocked by the government, which, with the motivation of the pandemic, stopped the protesters from the borders, and authorized the Police use tear gas and water cannons against them.
Yesterday, after an assembly, the proposal arrived by the Minister of the Interior to start talks was rejected, as long as the demonstrators agreed to move the camp to the area of Burari, an endless park on the outskirts of the capital.
The associations replied that Burari "is not a park, but an open-air concentration camp", and threatened to encircle all five border posts, not just the two around which they have been camped since last Friday.
Several thousand demonstrators, who had been flown towards Delhi last Friday, were stopped by the police and transferred to the Nirankarai Samagan Ground, and continue to be held in the area, from where agents prevent them from moving.
The governor of the state of Punjab Amarider Singh, who supports the protest, urged the associations to consider the government's proposal and to start negotiations as soon as possible.
The demonstration was called a month ago by the most important national farmers' associations to protest against the recent reform laws in the sector, and is supported by opposition parties.
(HANDLE).
