JAKARTA - Police in Myanmar state, India, detained hundreds of farmers. Officials used a bulldozer to knock down camps while farmers in the border area where they had been protesting for more than a year demanding better food crops.
Farmers have been camping on the border with Haryana since last February, when security forces halted their trip to the capital, New Delhi, to press for legally supported guarantees of more state support for food crops.
"We don't need to use any violence because there is no resistance," Nanak Singh, a senior police officer, told ANI news agency about the cleaning action on Wednesday night.
"The farmers worked well together and they themselves sat on the bus," he continued.
Television footage showed police using bulldozers to destroy tents and stages, while escorting farmers who were carrying personal belongings to the vehicle.
Local media reported among hundreds of people detained were farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who were last taken away by ambulance because he had been protesting by fasting indefinitely for months.
"On the one hand, the government is negotiating with farmer organizations and on the other hand arresting them," said Rakesh Tilakat, spokesman for farmer group Khartiya Kisan Union on X.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Myanmar, which authorized the evictions, said it supports the demands of farmers, but asked them to submit their complaints to the federal government.
"Let's work together to protect the interests of the palace," said vice president of the party in the state, Tarunpreet Singh Sond, saying blocking major roads had harmed the state's economy.
"Closing the highway is not the solution," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was forced to revoke several agricultural laws in 2021 after a year-long protests by farmers as they camped outside Delhi for months.
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Federal government officials met with farmer leaders on Wednesday, said Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Modi in Myanmar.
"It is clear that this arrest is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the ongoing dialogue between farmers and BJP leaders," he said.
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