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From toothpaste masks to dampened clothes on their faces, farmers at the Khanauri border are leaving no stone unturned to escape police action during the farmers’ protest.
The Khanauri border is a gateway connecting the states of Punjab and Haryana. Thousands of farmers are stationed there and are gearing up for their journey towards Delhi. However, on Wednesday evening, General Secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sarwan Singh Pandher, said that the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march has been suspended for two days.
Face shields, masks, toothpaste as face repellant, wet jute bags to extinguish smoke canisters and kites to ward off drone surveillance, are some of the peculiar methods used by farmers.
In anticipation of police intervention, farmers have come up with unique strategies, like the use of toothpaste on their faces to neutralise the effects of smoke canisters deployed by the Haryana Police. Besides, some farmers were also seen carrying dampened clothes to counter the stinging smoke, a tactic learned from previous police interventions.
As farmers are trying to march towards Delhi, the Haryana Police are stopping them with tear gas. To tackle this, farmers started burning stubble near the Khanauri border. Farmers started taking thousands of bundles of stubble from the field and burning them near the border.
As the wind was blowing towards the Haryana side, the pollution became a problem for the police.
According to Haryana Police, the protesting farmers surrounded the security personnel deployed at the Datta Singh-Khanauri border by burning stubble mixed with chilli powder.
Farmers are using different methods to grapple with police measures. Flying kites to monitor and control the police drones, which were previously used to disperse the protesting crowds through smoke canisters, is another such method.
However, police forces are equally prepared. Their strategy involves physical barriers like barbed wire standing 6 feet tall and layers of police trucks and large containers acting as road blockers.
Big earthmoving machinery such as excavators and customised tractors were spotted at the protest sites with police issuing warnings to the farmers.
Police fired tear gas shells to disperse some farmers who started moving towards the multiple layers of barricades at the Shambhu border point near Ambala in Haryana. By afternoon, there had been at least three rounds of tear gas shelling.
