Scores of Farmers Clash with Police in India

This morning, hundreds of security forces in India were deployed to the outskirts of New Delhi after thousands of farmers from neighboring states blocked major roads leading to the capital to protest against floating prices of farm products.

The protests came one day after clashes between the two sides ended with an agreement on the possibility of farmers demonstrating in the capital. Only then, tension escalated again against the new laws, which farmers fear will deprive them of the minimum guaranteed prices for their crops.

The farmers arrived in trucks, buses and tractors at the outskirts of Delhi at the border with Haryana state yesterday and blocked the northern highway leading to the capital this morning, chanting slogans against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and waving the red, yellow and green farmers' union flags.

Under laws passed by the Modi government in September, farmers would be free to sell their produce anywhere, including large companies, rather than government-regulated wholesale markets where they were guaranteed a minimum purchase price.

Many small farmers, however, fear they will be at the mercy of big firms and that the government will eventually cancel price subsidies for basic commodities such as wheat and rice. The government says it has no intention of abolishing wholesale markets and that farmers are free to choose buyers.