Farmers Demonstrate Against Land Acquisitions in Northern India

Farmers near Agra City recently sold their land to the Uttar Pradesh state government. But they say they weren't paid enough for their land, and are taking to the streets in protest.

On Tuesday, hundreds of farmers demonstrated near Agra City in India's state of Uttar Pradesh. They say they were given too little money by the government to purchase farmland.

Angry farmers used tractors to demolish the walls of a proposed township nearby, and also ploughed fields near the expressway in protest. The fields have been sold off to the state government.

Farmers also violently clashed with police, damaging more than half a dozen government vehicles.

Both police officers and officials were injured in the scuffles. Police retaliated by firing bullets in the air to disperse the crowd.

In a separate incident, farmers went on a rampage in the Aligarh region of Uttar Pradesh earlier in the day, protesting against the government's acquisition of land for a new highway project.

The farmland has been acquired by the government for the nearly 100-mile Yamuna Expressway linking Noida and Agra, due to be completed next year.

The state government acquired land for the project worth nearly a billion U.S. dollars in nearly 1,200 villages of four western Uttar Pradesh districts.

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