Barbed wire, tear gas and spikes: Police in India try to stop farmers protesting in New Delhi

Protestors demanding minimum crop prices were detained by police attempting to stop people moving towards New Delhi

Police in India have fired tear gas and used barbed wire and spikes to prevent tens of thousands of protesting farmers from marching on the capital.

Protestors demanding minimum crop prices were detained as police used barricaded border points to try and prevent people from moving on mass towards New Delhi.

A Delhi policeman in riot gear walks past rows of barricades covered with barbed wire on a major street. Credit: AP

Tear gas canisters were dropped near farmers via drone in northern Haryana, while entry points to the city were barricaded with giant metal containers, barbed wire, spikes and cement blocks.

The farmers, who rode on tractors and trucks from the neighbouring Haryana and Punjab states, said the government had failed to meet some of their main demands made at previous protests.

Indian police try to block protesting farmers on a road to New Delhi

The group was initially up in arms in 2020 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced sweeping changes to farming regulations, in a move which farmers said would damage their incomes.

In 2021 the government said the change were needed to modernise Indian farming, but farmers said they would be left financially worse off.

The controversial agricultural laws were then repealed in November 2021.

“Let us make a fresh start,” India's prime minister had said during the address.

Farmers are now asking the government for a guaranteed minimum support price for all farm produce. Farmers are also requesting that their income is doubled and loans waived.

India's farmers are a key voting group, which Prime Minister Modi will be keen to keep on-side ahead of this the general election which will take place later this year.

Farmers on tractors march to New Delhi near the Punjab-Haryana border at Shambhu, India. Credit: AP

The 2021 protests started in northern India but quickly triggered nationwide demonstrations.

Dozens of farmers died during the protests, with many dying of suicide and because they were camping out during a harsh winter when Covid-19 was rampaging across the country.

The protests in India echo those in Europe, where farmers have been creating blockades outside major cities to demonstrate against various government measures that they see as damaging to their livelihoods.

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