New Delhi: Vowing to continue their stir till the agri laws are repealed, agitating farmers marched with black flags, burnt effigies, and shouted anti-government slogans at Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur protest sites on Delhi borders as well as in several parts of Punjab and Haryana to mark the completion of six months of their agitation.
Black flags were put atop houses and on vehicles by people and leaders of opposition parties to observe ‘Black Day’ on Wednesday on a call by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella outfit of farmer unions that is spearheading the stir against the laws that were enacted in September last year by the Centre.
Authorities maintained a tight vigil and urged people not to gather in view of the ongoing COVID restrictions.
A brief ruckus was reported at the Ghazipur protest site on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border where police tried to stop protesters from burning an effigy.
If laws can be made amid the COVID pandemic, why cannot they be repealed, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said while addressing hundreds of protestors at the site where COVID-19 protocols on social distancing and face masks were largely amiss.
“The movement will continue for a long time,” the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader said.
Twelve major opposition parties, including the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), TMC, the Left, SP, NCP and DMK had on Sunday backed the protest call.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh were among the leaders who raised black flags at their residence and urged the central government to accept the demand of protesting farmers.
