Chandigarh: Tension gripped Sangrur district of Punjab after a farmer died during a clash between farmers and police in its Longowal area Monday evening. At least seven police personnel were also reported to have been hurt in the conflict.
The clash took place after a large number of farmers who had been protesting in Sangrur demanding financial aid to the flood-hit farmers for the past few days were angered after learning that some of their leaders had been detained since Sunday in the wake of their protest in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Confrontation Escalates
The farmers and the police force confronted each other when the former, who were on their way to block the Badbar toll plaza to block it and the latter stopped them leading to a clash and a melee-like situation. The clash between the farmers and police force which took place around 3 pm went on for about an hour.
The Sangrur police took to X to clarify: "Reg unfortunate death of a protester today at Longowal, it is clarified that as per witnesses & videos d deceased was overrun by a rashly driven tractor trolley by protesters, which also severely injured a police inspector who narrowly escaped from getting crushed. Our condolences."
The police also released the video of the tragic accident in which the farmer was run over.
Police's Account
According to media reports, the Sangrur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Surendra Lamba held that the protesting farmers on tractor-trolleys and buses forced their way through barricades put up by the police and that some protesters even turned violent and hit the policemen with sticks, injuring two of them, including an inspector. He held that the incident took place during the protest by BKU (Azad).
The deceased farmer was identified as Pritam Singh, 70. Though he was rushed to the Rajinder Hospital, Patiala, he succumbed to his injuries.
Meanwhile, the farmers were still holding the protest at the Longowal and insisting on taking their protest to Chandigarh on Tuesday, till the time of filing this report.
