Farmers protest live updates: 44 people arrested over Singhu border violence, say Delhi police

A standoff built up through Thursday between police and protesters at UP Gate on Delhi’s Ghazipur border after the UP government ordered farmers camping there to be vacated and Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Tikait faction, the outfit leading the sit-in agitation at the site, dug in its heels and announced it would move the Supreme Court on Friday against the attempt to evict the protesters. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, who held fort at UP Gate as tension rose after the protesters were served a notice by the Ghaziabad administration to leave and a heavy police contingent moved in, said, “The Supreme Court has not raised any objections to peaceful protest. No violence has taken place here (at UP Gate). I will challenge the order in the Supreme Court on Friday.”

Soon after the authorities tried to remove farmers from Ghazipur border, a large number of farmers from several villages of Haryana came out in protest on Thursday night. Farmers from Kandela village in Jind district blocked Jind-Chandigarh highway at 10pm. The road blockage continued till late in the night. The farmers alleged that the government was trying to suppress their agitation by using force in the night. “Those were not just the tears of Rakesh Tikait, but the cry of every farmer of India,” said Ram Mehar Kandela, a khap member of Kandela Khap. He was referring to visuals in which Tikait had appeared weeping.

Uttar Pradesh Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) deployed left the protest site late last night.