Several farmers, Dalit activists and Left supporters weredetained across Karnataka on Saturday while taking part in the nationwide'chakka jam' called by farmers' organisations in New Delhi.
Traffic across the state was not affected but as this wasa weekend and several people knew about this agitation in advance, it did notaffect normal life much and that too it was called between 12 to 3 p.m.
Several agitating farmers in Bengaluru's northern suburbof Yelahanka were detained for blocking the highway for over two hours.
Police also detained several farmer leaders includingKuruburu Shantakumar and protesting farmers to clear the traffic.
The protests also saw the detention of some of thedemonstrators as the police tried to clear the roads for traffic movement.Politician Vatal Nagaraj, who joined the farmers, was also detained from MysoreBank Circle.
Many office goers in Bengaluru reached their offices abit early in the morning in anticipation that farmers' agitation might throwtraffic out of gear, but except in a few parts on the fringe of the city,traffic movement was normal.
The 'chakka jam' protest was more effective in ruralparts, where a high number of farmers came out and cooked food on the roads,while some activists sang patriotic songs as well as sang 'bhajans' (devotionalsongs) to keep the agitators engaged.
The demonstrations took place in Bengaluru, Mysuru,Kolar, Koppal, Bagalkote, Tumakuru Davangere, Hassan, Haveri, Shivamogga,Chikkaballapura, and other places.
In some districts like Belgavi, women activists also cameout in large numbers and protested. At Chitradurga activists formed a humanchain and shouted slogans against the farm laws and the Union government. Inseveral districts in north Karnataka, even artists and cooks came out insupport of the farmers and used roads as their canvas to depict how the farmlaws can harm farmers.
Condemning the agitations, Union Minister for Chemicaland Fertilisers D.V. Sadananda Gowda told reporters that the accusations madeby the farmers were "wrong" and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi'sgovernment has implemented the recommendations of Swaminathan Committee toaddress the agrarian distress and farmers' suicides.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana andUttar Pradesh, have been camping at several Delhi border points since Novemberlast year, demanding that the Union government repeal the three farm laws andlegal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.