Police lathicharge protesting farmers near Karnal, 10 injured; farmers block highways

Around 10 people were injured on Saturday as police allegedly lathicharged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a highway while heading towards Karnal to protest against a BJP meeting.

Besides Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, state BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar and other senior leaders of the party were present at the meeting.

The state police drew severe criticism for the action against the farmers, and several roads and highways, including toll plazas, were blockaded at different places in protest.

The affected routes included the Fatehabad-Chandigarh, Gohana-Panipat, Jind-Patiala highways, Ambala-Kurukshetra, the Delhi highway near Karnal, Hisar-Chandigarh and Kalka-Zirakpur national highways.

Several commuters were left stranded at highways for hours.

Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni alleged that the police brutally lathicharged the protesting farmers, leaving many injured.

While senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha leader Darshan Pal said the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had given call for road and toll plaza blockade till 5 pm Saturday to protest injuries to dozens of farmers and detaining of some farmers by Karnal police, Chaduni said road blockades will continue till all those detained in Karnal were released.

Several protesters present at the site near the Bastara toll plaza around 15 km from Karnal claimed to have witnessed 8-10 people sustain injuries in the police action.

Karnal police IG Mamta Singh, however, told

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