New Delhi: A day after images of Police personnel of national capital carrying metal lances and wearing arm guards went viral on social media, Delhi Police on Tuesday it to be a part of Police weaponry. In a viral picture, cops were seen carrying steel batons and wearing arm guards which they said were to protect themselves from sword-carrying protesters of farmers agitation. Speaking to reporters, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava said, "I can't tell you what is that. Steel batons are not a part of Police weaponry." ALSO READ | Rahul Gandhi Quotes Martin Luther King To Take 'Barbed-Dig' At Centre Over Barricading At Farmers' Protest Site
However, the Commissioner did not clarify whether the 'special weapons' have been taken back by the Police or not.
Several other media reports state that Delhi Police did not give any formal approval for the 'new armour' and few policemen took call to arm themselves with guards and steel lathis on their own. It is also being said that the viral image was from Shahdara district and a unit in question has been asked to explain its action.
Meanwhile, answering the questions of agressive barricading by Delhi Police in Ghazipur borders, SN Srivastava said, "I am surprised that when tractors were used, Police was attacked, barricades were broken on 26th no questions were raised. What did we do now? We've just strengthened barricading so that it's not broken again."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can't tell you what is that. Steel batons are not a part of Police weaponry: Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava when asked if the metal batons (reportedly seen being carried by some Police personnel) have been taken back <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/india/freelance-journalist-mandeep-poonia-gets-bail-after-arrest-over-accusation-of-misbehaving-with-police-1442247">https://t.co/bEwIUdwveG</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a >February 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Pitted against protesting farmers, who earlier used the sheer power of their tractors to break through barricades and other obstacles in their march towards the national capital on January 26, Delhi Police has now come up with innovative methods to check their advance. Police have installed iron spikes and wooden boards with big nails cemented on to the roads.
Also, the iron barricades have been further fortified by concertina wires, double layers of concrete slabs further strengthened by pouring in concrete mix between them to make them difficult to move even by tractors once the concrete solidifies. Earlier, Police had even dug up trenches and parked buses and other heavy vehicles to prevent the farmers from moving towards Singhu, Tikri and other borders, but could not succeed.
ALSO READ | Freelance Journalist Mandeep Poonia Gets Bail After Arrest On Accusation Of Misbehaving With Delhi Police
The protest sites on the Delhi borders now are marked by heavy presence of police and paramilitary forces in riot gear, apart from buses parked across roads to dissuade more farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western UP from joining forces at the protest sites at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.
Accoring to reports, even drones are being used to keep an eye on trouble makers with intensive checking of all private and commercial vehicles passing by Delhi borders which has resulted in massive traffic snarls at the entry points of the national capital.