Tens of thousands of protesting farmers have driven long lines of tractors into India’s capital, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.

They waved farm union and religious flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence.

Thousands more marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against prime minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones.

Police said one protester had died after his tractor overturned, but farmers said he was shot. Television channels showed several bloodied protesters.

Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest.

For nearly two months, farmers — many of them Sikhs from Punjab and Haryana states — have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government.

They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialise agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at numerous places to push back the rows of tractors, which shoved aside concrete and steel barricades.

Authorities blocked roads with large trucks and buses in an attempt to stop the farmers from reaching the centre of the capital, but thousands managed to reach some important landmarks.

Officials also shut some metro train stations, and mobile internet service was suspended in some parts of the capital.

The government insists the agriculture reform laws passed by parliament in September will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment.

Farmers tried to march into New Delhi in November but were stopped by police. Since then, unfazed by the winter cold, they have hunkered down at the edge of the city and threatened to besiege it if the farm laws are not repealed.

The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months, but farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal.

They plan to march on foot to parliament on February 1, when the country’s new budget will be presented.

The protests overshadowed Republic Day celebrations, in which Mr Modi oversaw a traditional lavish parade along ceremonial Rajpath boulevard displaying the country’s military power and cultural diversity.

The parade was scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic. People wore masks and adhered to social distancing as police and military battalions marched along the route displaying their latest equipment.

Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on January 26 1950.

Since returning to power for a second term, Mr Modi’s government has been rocked by several convulsions. The economy has sunk, social strife has widened, protests have erupted against discriminatory laws and his government has been questioned over its response to the pandemic.

Agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people, but the economic clout of farmers has diminished over the last three decades. Once producing a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s huge economy.

More than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 killing themselves in 2018 and 2019, according to official records.