Scores of farmers under the banner of Samyukta Horata Karnataka staged a demonstration in the city on Thursday condemning the government’s move to acquire land in Devanahalli near Bengaluru.

The farmers also flayed what it termed as police high-handedness in assaulting those protesting the land acquisition move of the government.

Jagadish Surya of the Samyukta Horata Karnataka said, farmers from 13 villages in Devanahalli are protesting peacefully since the last few years. There was a demonstration at Devanahalli on Thursday in support of which scores of organisations from across the State had taken part in it. Though the protest was held peacefully, the police entered the venue around 5 p.m. and forcibly disrupted the farmers protest on the grounds that they did not have permission to demonstrate, said Mr. Jagadish.

Criticising the government for disrupting a peaceful protest, Mr. Jagadish Surya demanded a probe into what he termed as police atrocities and demanded action against the guilty.