Patiala, May 7 -- Amid the statewide crackdown by Punjab Police on farmer leaders and the stepped-up vigil in Patiala district, no farmer could reach the Shambhu police station to hold a protest on Tuesday. As farmers, under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), had announced a day-long dharna at the Shambhu police station, cops had set up a naka (check-point) on National Highway 44 near Shambhu barrier to stop them, leading to traffic jams. Several farmers, including union leaders, were detained across the state. The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and the SKM (Non-political) claimed that 1,000 farmers were detained throughout the day. Sangrur superintendent of police Sartaj Singh Chahal said 50 farmers, primarily from BKU (Ekta Azad) and BKU-Sidhupur, were detained during their march to Shambu. The SP said they were released by evening. In Barnala, seven leaders from BKU-Sidhupur were under house arrest and they were released in the evening, informed SSP Sarfaraz Alam. Police personnel were checking every vehicle and allowing passage only to those headed toward Delhi or Haryana. All roads leading to Shambhu police station were heavily barricaded. Senior police officers, including Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, were in the field. In Haryana too, farmers were detained to deter them from reaching the Shambhu police station. Tejvir Singh, spokesperson, BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh, said, "This shows both AAP and BJP are against the farmers. Besides, this also shows that they have tacit understanding because the BJP government was also stopping farmers from reaching the Shambhu police station as AAP did in Punjab." The protest, spearheaded by Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, was in response to the police crackdown on March 19, when farmer leaders were detained after a meeting with Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh and cleared off the Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites that they had been occupying since February 13, 2024, when their Delhi Chalo march was stopped en route to the national capital. Farmers are demanding compensation for the items that had allegedly gone missing during the March 19 police crackdown at Shambhu, which they claimed were later traced with individuals linked to AAP leaders and police personnel. Key farmer leaders, including Jagjit Singh Dallewal, were detained in various districts on Monday ahead of the protest. KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, "Punjab seems to have turned into a police state. Peaceful protests are not allowed."...