Indian police block landless protest march

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

NEW DELHI (AFP) — Police prevented thousands of poor and landless farmers and tribals from marching towards the federal parliament building in the Indian capital Monday to demand land rights.

An estimated 25,000 people from 15 of India's 29 states have converged in New Delhi after marching 600 kilometres (370 miles) from the central city of Gwalior to the capital in 28 days.

Waving green and white flags and holding large pictures of independence leader and peace icon Mahatma Gandhi, the marchers squatted on sprawling, dusty ground in the heart of the city with no shade from the sun.

"Our water reserves are running out. People will die of thirst and hunger at this rate," said march organiser Puthan Vithal Rajgopal, who heads a group called Ekta Parishad, or...