NEW DELHI (AP) – Thousands of protesting Indian farmers blocked highways across the country for hours on Saturday to push for the repeal of new agricultural laws that have sparked mass protests for months on end.
The protesters used tractors, trucks and even boulders to block the roads. They carried banners and flags denouncing the laws that they say will make them poorer and at the mercy of corporations.
“We will fight until our last breath,” said 80-year-old Jhajjan Singh, a farmer on a protest site in Ghazipur. Prime Minister Narendra “Modi needs to know he will stay or we will.”
Authorities have deployed thousands of security forces, mainly outside India’s capital, where farmers have been camping in three key locations for over two months. The farmers have said they will not leave until the government reverses the laws.
Saturday’s blockade started at noon and lasted three hours. Violence was not immediately reported.
Several rounds of talks between farmers and the government have not resulted in any breakthroughs. The government has said the laws are necessary to modernize Indian agriculture.
On Friday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar defended the laws in parliament, dampening hopes for a speedy settlement as he made no new offer to resume talks with the farmers.
The protests turned violent on January 26, Republic Day in India, when a group of farmers on tractors deviated from the protest route and stormed the 17th-century Red Fort.. Hundreds of police officers were injured, as well as dozens of farmers. One protester died.
Farmer leaders condemned the violence but said they would not call off the protest.
Since then, authorities have greatly increased security at protest sites outside the New Delhi borderand added iron points and steel barricades to keep the peasants from entering the capital.
Meanwhile, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on authorities and protesters to exercise “maximum restraint”.
“The rights to peaceful assembly and expression must be protected both offline and online. It is crucial to find just solutions that respect # HumanRights for all, ”the UN body said in a tweet late Friday.