PROTESTING INDIAN FARMERS RETURN TO CAMP AFTER CLASHES

Leaders of a protest movement sought Wednesday to distance themselves from a day of violence when thousands of farmers stormed India’s historic Red Fort, the most dramatic moment in two months of demonstrations that have grown into a major challenge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Ashok Sharma reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Farmers demanding the repeal of new agricultural laws briefly took over of the 17th-century fort, and images broadcast live on television shocked the nation. In a particularly bold rebuke to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government, the protesters hoisted a Sikh religious flag.

At least one protester died, and several demonstrators were injured, as were more than 390 police officers, and there are concerns the violence could undermine the protest movement that has thus far been largely peaceful and is growing in strength. Police said 19 people were arrested and 50 others were detained for questioning.

The farmers — many of them minority Sikhs from the major agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana — are demanding the repeal of new laws they say will favor large corporate farms, devastate the earnings of many farmers by cutting price supports and leave those who hold small plots behind as big corporations win out.

The government insists the laws will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment, but, in the face of protests, it has offered to suspend them for 18 months. The farmers want nothing less than a full repeal.

On Tuesday, more than 10,000 tractors and thousands more people on foot or horseback moved into the capital, shoving aside barricades and buses blocking their path and at times met by police using tear gas and water cannons.

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