With hundreds of protesters moving into Tohana town’s Sadar police station and erecting a tent on the premises, a standoff between farmers and authorities, intensified over the weekend, in Tohana, in Haryana’s Fatehabad district.

An unwitting protester, a cow visibly kept the protesters company. One of the farmers had brought the cow along because “there was no one back home to look after her”.

Also See: Overview of the Farmers’ unions in the protests

The protesters have been demanding the release of two farmers. They were arrested over a protest held on June 1 at the residence of Tohana’s JJP MLA Devender Babli. But with the two arrested farmers still in judicial custody, on Saturday, the farmers stepped up their protest with several of them, including over 60 women, spending the night on the two-acre police station campus. Farmer leaders like Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Rakesh Tikait and Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav also spent the Saturday night with the protesters. On Sunday, a prominent Punjab farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan joined the farmers.

Protesters milled around the police station campus as a posse of policemen in riot gear stood watch, through much of Sunday. Some of the protesters sat on green carpets under the pink shamiana. They kept chatting with each other and occasionally with the policemen on duty.

Mandeep Nathwan, one of the protesters at the thana said, “Farmers from nearby areas have been supplying food and drinking water.”

As part of their protest against the Centre’s three farm laws, farmers have been turning up to gherao leaders of the parties that are part of the ruling coalition in Haryana-BJP and JJP. The leaders of these parties are gheraoed whenever they attend public programmes.

Also See: Overview of the Farmers’ unions in the protests

One such leader Devender Babli was gheraoed on June 01 with farmers blocking his car in Tohana, following which the leader had hurled abuses towards the farmers. That had escalated the problem.

On Sunday, there were talks between farmer leaders and district-level administrative officers. The talks failed to yield anything substantial, after which farmers decided to intensify their protest. Suresh Koth, a farmer leader, said, “The talks did not yield the desired results as the administration has not given any assurance on releasing our farmer brothers. We will continue to protest at the Tohana police station till they are released.”