Indian police fired tear gas at hundreds of farmers during a protest march towards New Delhi on Tuesday.
The farmers were protesting to force the government to honour a promise made in 2021 to pay more for crops.
The march was the latest in a series of similar protests that began more than two years ago and comes months before national elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a third term and farmers make up an influential bloc of voters.
The farmers headed south to Delhi, a day after farmers’ unions and ministers failed to secure commitments to ensure minimum prices for a range of crops. Sarwan Singh Pandher, the general secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), told ANI news agency:
The government has not been able to make a strong decision on anything … We thought that giving time is not suitable now.
Hundreds of farmers were seen on foot and large tractor convoys in many parts of the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.
At midday (06:30 GMT), police fired tear gas to disperse the marchers at Shambhu, a border point between Punjab and Haryana, about 230 kilometres (143 miles) north of Delhi, where many joined the procession.
Footage appeared on social media showing protesters trying to break through barricades by lifting cement blocks set up to stop the march, while police used drones to fire tear gas shells into the crowd. Some protesters have been detained.
