Tension simmered on highways leading to the Indian capital on Wednesday as hundreds of thousands of protesting farmers awaited the outcome of another round of talks with the Indian government on their demands.

Police drones dropped tear gas shells as farmers congregated along roads barricaded with cement blocks, iron girders and temporary barricades.

Officers stood guard equipped with stun guns, tear gas and smog masks, the India Today television channel reported.

For their part, the farmers had brought earth excavators, sandbags, gloves and masks.

Some of them wore bullet-proof jackets.

The farmers, mainly from the northern state of Punjab, planned to march to Delhi last week to demand minimum support prices for the crops they grew.

This, among other requests, was stopped by police at various entry points, resulting in the days-long standoff.

After four rounds of talks failed to achieve a breakthrough, farmers’ leaders said they would resume their attempt to march on the capital on Wednesday.

The protestors waved flags and shouted slogans as their leaders went into a last-minute huddle with federal government officials in Delhi.

“We want the prime minister to protect our constitutional right to protest farmer union leader Sarvan Singh Pandher.

“Open the borders and let us protest peacefully,” they said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wanted to prevent a repeat of 2020 and 2021, when thousands of farmers protested for months around the capital against a legal reform to liberalise the agricultural sector.

The government acceded to their demand, marking a bitter political defeat for Modi.

The current protest is taking place just a few months before the parliamentary elections. 

(dpa/NAN)