The Samajwadi Party, extending support to the one-day fast called by farmers protesting against new farm laws, staged protests in the districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The SP leaders were placed under house arrest in several districts and were also taken into custody by the police.
In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party workers clashed with police in Kaiserbagh. The SP workers were stopped from going towards the district collectorate. A number of SP workers, including women party workers, were also taken into custody by the police..
“Samajwadi Party supports the demands of farmers and its sympathy is with the farmers. The Kisan Yatra was started by the SP on December 7. On December 14, the party workers staged a dharna at all the district headquarters in the state. I have been arrested in Sandila (in Hardoi district), and many party leaders are under house arrest,” said SP MLC Rajpal Kashyap.
In Agra, police used mild force to disperse the protesting SP workers.
The police detained a huge number of SP leaders and workers, including district president, in Gorakhpur when they were going to participate in a sit-in demonstration at Nagar Nigam campus on Monday.
Police started detaining SP workers in the morning and arrested party district president Ram Nagina Sahni.
The police also detained Samajwadi Party workers during the protest in Prayagraj. District president Ziaul Islam said they were prevented from exercising their democratic rights.
Some workers were arrested near the Town Hall crossing and some were arrested from Zila Parishad road in Prayagraj.
“Police and government are snatching our constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully. They are registering fake cases against us and are not letting us to protest,” Sahni said.
SSP of Gorakhpur, Jogendra Kumar, said, “Section 144 is already imposed in the district and during the pandemic it is also not safe to gather at a place without social distancing. They should first take permission for holding a demonstration from the district magistrate.”
In Muzaffarnagar, several SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal leaders were taken into custody ahead of their planned protest in support of farmers.
Showing their solidarity with the protesting farmers, Congress leaders also staged demonstrations on Monday.
Police also took action against the AAP leaders in different districts of the state when they tried to sit on dharna in support of the farmers.
Meanwhile, ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said here on Monday that no legislator, MP or any other leader would be allowed to take law into his hand in the name of joining protests against the farm laws.
“We have directed all the district police chiefs to check the political leaders, including legislators, MPs and others, from creating any kind of law and order problem or creating trouble for the common man in the name of protest especially against the farm laws,” he said.