New Delhi: Marking their disagreement with the Centre on the three farm ordinances, the Bharatiya Kisan Union and other farmer organisation which have been protesting in Haryana, blocked the national highway at Pipli in Kurukshetra district on Thursday. The protesters sat on a dharna on the National Highway 22 to block the traffic, reports of traffic blocked by the farmers at various other roads around Kurukshetra  also surfaced.

The Pipli Chowk remained tense and a centre for a 'battle' between the police and protesters for about four hours.

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The police had raised a number of barriers to stop the farmers from reaching Pipli Mandi to hold 'Kissan Bachao, Mandi Bachao' rally organised by the farmer organisations and supported by the Congress and AAP.

The protesters, however, managed to break many of these barriers. It is reported that the angry farmers also broke window panes of a fire brigade vehicle and pelted stones on the police.

The tensions unfolded because Bhartiya Kisan Union was denied permission to hold the protest rally against the three farm ordinances.

After hours, the district administration relented and lifted the barriers outside the rally site to allow thousands of protesters reach their destination.

News agency ANI shared the visuals of the protest on its Twitter handle.


Police used force to control the protesters:

As per reports police used lathicharge when farmers coming from Shahbad area pushed their way into the rally site. Haryana BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni  who condemned the police action on protesters, claimed many farmers were injured and several of them were taken into custody to prevent them from reaching the rally spot from across the state.

Why are the farmers protesting?

Farmers in Haryana and Punjab have been protesting against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. Farmers believe that the ruling government through these ordinances was trying to get out of the well tested Minimum Support Price and Mandi system, and was throwing the farmers before big sharks to exploit them.