INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New Delhi: Farmers agitating at three Delhi border points raised black flags, shouted anti-government slogans, burnt effigies and took out
protest marches as they observed 'black day' on Wednesday to mark the completion of six months of their stir against the three Central agri
laws.A brief ruckus was also reported from the Ghazipur protest site where farmers burnt an effigy of the central government amid heavy
three border points -- Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri -- to register their protest against the three laws as well as the Centre.Women protest
against farm laws wearing black turban marking a Black Day at Puda Ground in Ludhiana
(Photo: PTI)The Delhi Police has urged people not to hold gatherings due to the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing lockdown and said it is
been hoisted not only at the protest sites but also in villages in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, adding that villagers have put up
black flags atop their houses as well as on their vehicles."Effigies of government leaders were burnt
This day is to reiterate the fact that it has been six months since we have been protesting, but the government, which also completes seven
years in office today, is not listening to us," said Mehma.All those in solidarity of their movement also donned black turbans and
stage.Farmer leader Kulwant Singh said, "The protesters took out a march carrying black flags
They burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy while raising slogans against the three farm laws.Farmers burn an effigy during protest
against the farm laws marking a Black Day at Ghazipur border in New Delhi
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued notices to Delhi, UP, Haryana on alleged flouting of COVID norms by the protesting
farmers.The Delhi Police too had urged people not to hold gatherings due to the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing lockdown.However, Mehma
said that the government shouldn't have introduced the three laws during the pandemic in the first place."If the government wants us to go
sit in the heat and the cold at the borders
We also want to go back home and be safe," the farmer leader told PTI.Farmers burn an effigy during protest against the farm laws marking a
Black Day at Ghazipur border in New Delhi
(Photo: (PTI)Police force has been in place at all the borders points, including the protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, since
Tuesday.At Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, hundreds of farmers, led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait,
donning anti-riot gears, who had tried to stop them from burning the effigy at the UP Gate below the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.While many BKU
supporters held black flags in their hands, several others had placards that condemned the government and demanded withdrawal of the
contentious laws, even as COVID-19 protocols on social distancing and face masks were largely amiss at the site.Tikait, who has been leading
the protest at Ghazipur since November 2020 and had become a prominent face of the protest after the January 26 violence in Delhi, was seen
protest that had lost sheen after the January 26 violence with his emotional pull that overnight drew support for the farmers on Delhi's
outskirts.Thousands of protesting farmers reached Delhi borders on November 26 last year to protest against the Centre's three new farm
