Flouting Covid-19 lockdown, BKU chief Tikait, huge farmers' group protest in Hisar

Hisar (Haryana) [India], May 24 (ANI): Farmers gathered in large numbers in Hisar on Monday to protest the police action against them for clashing with police earlier this month.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait was among the huge group, which gathered to protest and demand legal action against Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Hisar and other officials who allegedly lathi charged them and filed FIRs against hundreds of farmers after a clash between farmers and police on May 16.
District administration stepped up security in the area after the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) called to intensify protests from May 26, which marks six months of protests of farmers against the three central agricultural laws.
Amid a statewide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19, the farmers marched from Krantiman Park towards the Commissioner's Office.
Violence broke out on May 16 after a group of farmers, protesting against the farm laws, attempted to tried to march towards a venue where Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was to inaugurate a Covid-19 hospital. To stop and disperse the farmers, police used tear gas shells. Following this, an altercation occurred between police and farmers.
The farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the farm laws passed by the Centre.
Earlier, the Haryana CM had urged farmers to suspend their protest during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, claiming that their movements to and from dharna sites were spreading the infection in villages.
Khattar had said, "In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, I once again appeal to the farmer leaders to suspend their protests. The only goal for all of us should be to save the lives of people in the time of this crisis. There is nothing more than human life."
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday had also extended its support to the call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to observe a countrywide protest on May 26 and observe it as a "Black Day For Democracy".
In a tweet, AAP leader Raghav Chadha urged the Centre to immediately resume talks with the farmers and accede to their demands. (ANI)