Authorities in India's northern state of Punjab detained hundreds of protesting farmers and used bulldozers to dismantle their makeshift camps along the border with Haryana, where they had been demonstrating for over a year demanding higher crop prices.

The farmers had been stationed at the border since February last year after security forces blocked their march toward New Delhi, where they sought legally guaranteed minimum crop prices.

Senior police official Nanak Singh told ANI news agency that the clearance operation on Wednesday night was peaceful. "There was no resistance; the farmers cooperated and boarded the buses themselves," he stated, adding that they had been given prior notice.

Television footage showed police using bulldozers to flatten tents and makeshift platforms while escorting farmers, some carrying personal belongings, to waiting vehicles.
Among those detained were prominent farmer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the latter taken away in an ambulance after months of an indefinite hunger strike, according to media reports.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait criticized the crackdown, accusing the government of "negotiating with farmers on one hand while arresting them on the other."

Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) defended its decision to clear the protest sites, stating that while it supports farmers’ demands, the ongoing road blockades were harming the state’s economy. "Let’s collaborate to protect Punjab’s interests," said AAP state vice president Tarunpreet Singh Sond, emphasizing that closing highways was not a viable solution.

The federal government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has previously faced large-scale farmer protests. In 2021, Modi's administration was compelled to repeal controversial farm laws after a year-long agitation in which farmers camped outside Delhi for months.

According to Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab, central officials had engaged in talks with farmer representatives on Wednesday. "This crackdown is clearly aimed at derailing the ongoing dialogue between farmers and BJP leadership," he remarked in a post on X.