India detains hundreds of farmers as police bulldoze protest sites

FILE PHOTO: A farmer walks across a road at the site where farmers, who are marching towards New Delhi to press for better crop prices promised to them in 2021, have parked their tractors and trolleys, at Shambhu barrier, a border between Punjab and Haryana states, India, December 7, 2024. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police in India's northern state of Punjab detained hundreds of farmers and used bulldozers to tear down their temporary camps in a border area where they had protested for more than a year to demand better crop prices.

The farmers had camped on the border with adjoining Haryana since last February, when security forces halted their march toward the capital, New Delhi, to press for legally-backed guarantees of more state support for crops.