Police crackdown on Sanashtra farmer protests 2 June 5409
Vascanian police have initiated a major crackdown in the state of Sanashtra, as protests over water mismanagement and agricultural monopolies continue to wrack the state. Local Sanashtrans complain that several powerful agribusinesses - such as Yanai Chai Co. (YCC), the continent's largest tea-growing company - have been diverting water from smaller villages towards their 'megafarms'. In a relatively dry state, with low water reserves and inconsistent rainfall, these actions have had a devastating impact on local people. As rural unrest has continued, the police in Sanashtra have taken increasingly authoritarian measures to contain dissenters - who they term "luddites" and "troublemakers".
Protests restarted in 5406 after flooding in Sanashtra's northern neighbour, Kalam Nadu. Spokespeople for the original protestors said that the practices of YCC and other large agribusinesses had disrupted Vascania's natural river systems - a process known as "overengineering". The government refused to meet with protestors, saying that "hydromodification" - as they term it - is necessary to maintain Vascania's economic growth and sizeable agricultural output. The disagreement boiled over into protestors storming Yanai Chai farms blocking the transportation of their products. After an incident of arson near the state capital of Pagi, which the government blamed on the protestors, national police were sent in on orders direct from Kamalata. Watercannons and teargas were used to break up demonstrations, with some officers firing rubber bullets at locals. Members of Vascania's exiled opposition also allege that members of the secret service monitored the online presence of protest leaders, resulting in a number of arrests and disrupting the organisation of the nascent movement.
The Vascanian government has historically used heavy-handed tactics to defeat protest movements, notably including socialist, communist, Bhapori nationalist and anti-government dissidents. Prime Minister Keshav Raj, who came to power as a more moderate figure, said that the protestors are "trying to unleash chaos on our economy and society", echoing comments from Yogesh Tannu, the head of Sanashtra's state police force. The PM has not commented on specific allegations of brutality from law enforcement, but opinion polls released by East Kayal University suggest a majority of the Vascanian public support police actions - though polling in an autocracy is often inaccurate.
One farmer protest leader who left Vascania, Suraj Palekar, has told the Kamalata Times that the situation has "deteriorated rapidly" and that many farmers have abandoned the cause for fear of having their properties raided or even confiscated. Palekar maintains that the protests are not meant to "unleash chaos", but are instead an attempt "to ask for an equal voice for local people".
Media coverage and social media have played a major part in the protests, thus far, with heated debate on online platforms. Government-funded or government-censored media, like Vascania News and the Kalam Courier, continue to portray farmers as lawless and unruly. Many supporters of the demonstrations, as well as the demonstrators themselves, are using the internet to express their positions and call for support for the Sanashtra movement. Younger people, who have grown up in the post-democracy era, have seemed particularly angry at the government's response. A small solidary protest organised by students at Kamalata Imperial University was broken up by police, but it perhaps signals the start of a broader societal backlash to the government's heavy-handed tactics.
The Kamalata Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper, originally based in Kamalata but now printed in exile from Luthori, with international circulation
