Farmers, who had occupied the borders of Delhi and were seen as friendly and peaceful for over 60 days as they waited for the government to revoke the farm laws, suddenly left behind a trail of vandalism, violence, and hooliganism as they hoisted their flags at the iconic Red Fort after running amok through the national capital clashing with the police personnel.
Hundreds of farmers riding tractors, bikes and cars reached Red Fort and entered its premises. One of the protesters went up the mast on the ramparts of the fort and hoisted the farmer union flags and saffron pennant with a Sikh religious symbol. The flag was hoisted at the place where the Tricolour is hoisted.
The protestors came to central Delhi deviating from the route which had been decided for tractor march. Violence erupted near ITO area after the protesters chased police with their tractors, damage several DTC buses near ITO as they are prevented from moving towards the Red Fort. Some of the protestors even tried to run over police personnel deployed in the area.
Several people including police personnel suffered injuries during the clash between protesting farmers and police. The police fired tear-gas shells and lathi-charged the protesters on multiple occasions as farmers remained adamant to move towards the Red Fort.
Visuals from the site showed farmers swarming the Red Fort even as hundreds of others played a cat-and-mouse game with Delhi Police personnel near the ITO intersection in central Delhi, which witnessed chaos as security personnel were clearly outnumbered by the protesters.
In wake of the deteriorating situation, the Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered a temporary suspension of internet services in various parts of Delhi-NCR till midnight. Internet services temporarily suspended in the areas of Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri, Mukarba Chowk, Nangloi and their adjoining areas till 23:59 hrs on January 26, read an order from the home ministry.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation also closed the entry and exit gates of various metro stations on the yellow, green, violet and blue lines in wake of the farmers' tractor rally running amok in the heart of the national capital.
