“People have a right to demonstrate peacefully and authorities need to let them do so,” said Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary General of the United Nations on December 5, on being asked about the farmers’ movement that has continued despite talks with the Government of India.
The comment is the latest addition to a show of support for farmers who have been protesting in the outskirts of the national capital for the last ten days. The remark from the U.N. comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tru-deau’s support to the protest as “unacceptable interference.”
The comment from the United Nations came even as 36 British Members of Parliament sent a joint letter to U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, calling upon him to bring up the concerns of British citizens over the protests in Punjab and in the outskirts of Delhi. In a two page letter, Tanmanjeet Dhesi, Member of Parliament for Slough, expressed concern about the well-being of the protesting farmers and said, “…These new laws (in India) present the Punjabis with a huge problem, with some describing it as a ‘death warrant’.”