Sirsa: Police use water cannon to disperse protesting farmers

Sirsa (Haryana): Police used a water cannon on Wednesday to disperse a group of farmers, who allegedly tried to go past barricades when local MLA Gopal Kanda arrived to cast his vote for the municipal council chairman's post in this Haryana district.

The farmers, protesting against the Centre's new farm laws, gathered near the spot where the police had put up barricades and raised slogans against Kanda, the president of the Haryana Lokhit Party.

Kanda had voted against a no-confidence motion brought against the Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state Assembly by the main opposition Congress last month.

Farmer leaders had earlier said they would continue with their "peaceful social boycott" of the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies.

Sirsa Deputy Superintendent of Police Aryan Chaudhary said the protesters attempted to go past the barricades when the police tried to stop them.

Protesting farmers blocked BJP MP Nayab Singh Saini's car in Kurukshetra district's Shahabad on Tuesday, smashing its windscreen as he was about to leave a party worker's home, the police had said.

Farmers had held a protest against the chief minister in Rohtak on Saturday, resulting in a lathicharge by the police and forcing authorities to shift the landing site for Khattar's helicopter.