Tractor rally: Swaraj Abhiyan members clash with police in Jantar Mantar, 9 injured

The police said the clash broke out as they were removing the volunteers from Jantar Mantar for security reasons ahead of Independence Day celebrations. While the Swaraj Abhiyan said the police used force on its volunteers, the latter said the protesters were “unnecessarily aggressive”.

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“Some of the protesters became aggressive when they were being removed. Up to 30 supporters of Yadav then intervened. The police told them to leave as it was a security-related matter. They did not listen,” a senior police officer said.

Pankaj Pushkar, AAP MLA from Timarpur, alleged that the police lathicharged and assaulted the volunteers. “Yogendra and I rushed to the spot. We saw six men in plainclothes, who claimed to be policemen, beating up our volunteers. We caught hold of one of them and asked for his identity card, but the man started pushing us. Suddenly, on someone’s orders, these people fled the spot. In the scuffle, six of our volunteers were injured and admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital,” alleged Pushkar. The police denied the allegations.

Yadav said on Twitter, “Shocked! Policemen beat up our volunteers to bleed. 6 of them seriously injured. Admitted in RML hospital. Police telling blatant lies…These goons in civil dress under police protection attacked our volunteers at Jantar Mantar.”

Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh arrived in the capital on Sunday in 150 tractors as part of the ‘Jai Kisan Andolan’. But the police initially did not allow the farmers to enter the capital. The police said tractors were not allowed on the roads of the capital, said Anupam Singh, spokesperson, Swaraj Abhiyan.