Tractor Rally: Groups of farmers start moving back to respective protest states, but thousands still in Delhi

New Delhi: Some groups of farmers started going back to their respective sit-in sites on Tuesday evening after hours of chaos during their tractor parade against the farm laws, but thousands of other protesters were still in several areas, including ITO, Nangloi and Mukarba Chowk, of the national capital.

Hundreds of farmers were sitting at the ITO crossing and many, who entered the city from the Singhu border protest site, were moving towards Delhi's Outer Ring Road.

Farmers were seen moving back in batches to Tikri and Ghazipur border protest sites on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile quoting government sources ANI reports that additional companies of Paramilitary Forces are likely to be deployed in Delhi. These would be over and above 15 companies which were sent yesterday.

According to reports Home Minister has issued strict guidelines to take action against people who have stormed Red Fort

Earlier, wielding sticks and clubs and holding the tricolour and union flags, tens of thousands of farmers atop tractors broke barriers, clashed with police and entered the city from various points to lay siege to the Red Fort and climb the flagpole on Republic Day on Tuesday.

A protesting farmer died after his tractor overturned at ITO during the farmers' tractor parade on Tuesday, police said.

The farmers draped the body in the tricolour and kept it at the ITO crossing, not allowing the police to send it for post-mortem.

"We have finally gained entry into Delhi after four months -- two in Punjab and two at the Delhi border. The mood is clear, we have come here to stay. There's no point in going back to where we started," Amarjeet Singh, 62, a protesting farmer, said.

The Delhi Police resorted to baton charge and firing of tear gas shells on farmers at Nangloi Chowk in West Delhi when they tried to deviate from the pre-agreed route to enter the national capital during their protest.

The agitating farmers broke cement barricades at Nangloi Chowk and Mukarba Chowk following which the police used heavy tear gas shells to disperse the unruly crowd, an official said.

Thousands of farmers clashed with the police in the heart of Delhi on Republic Day as they took out a huge tractor rally against the government's new agricultural laws after knocking down barricades at the city's borders this morning. The disarray was caused after the protesters - allowed to hold the "Kisaan Parade" between 12 and 5 PM - began the march much before time and deviated from the agreed routes.

This led to a dramatic standoff with the protesters being tear-gassed and lathi-charged. Some policemen were also injured in the clashes.

Police on Tuesday fired tear gas shells and lathi charged farmers when they clashed with the force in parts of city, including the ITO, after the tractor parade deviated from the permitted route in an attempt to move towards Rajpath, the heart of the national capital.

The Delhi Police had given permission to farmers protesting the three farm laws to hold their tractor parade on selected routes only after the official Republic Day parade on the Rajpath concludes.

However chaos ensued as the farmers were adamant of heading towards central Delhi.

The farmers who began their march from different border points, much before the scheduled hour for their tractor parade, reached ITO in Central Delhi and tried to move towards Lutyen's zone. The protesters, carrying sticks, clashed with police at the ITO

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have been protesting on the Delhi borders since November 26 last year to demand the repeal of three new central farm laws and ensure legal guarantee for minimum support price for their crops.

Eleven rounds of talks between the farmers and the central government have remained fruitless.

(with inputs from PTI, Images and Videos Courtesy : Sibahathulla Sakib)