Police fired teargas shells to try and stop thousands of farmers who knocked down police barricades at Singhu border and entered Delhi on foot on Tuesday morning amid huge police presence ahead of a tractor rally permitted after the Republic Day parade at the iconic Rajpath.

It was not immediately clear whether these farmers were part of the Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 unions, leading the protests against the three Central farm laws at several border points of Delhi.

A member of the Morcha said those who broke the barricades belonged to the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, one of two farmers’ groups that was unhappy that the Morcha had agreed to go ahead with the tractor rally on the outskirts of the national capital instead of the Outer Ring Road, as had been initially planned.

On Monday, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, along with the Bharatiya Kisan Union-Ekka (Ugrahan), had announced that they would hold their march on Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road on Republic Day.

According to officials on Tuesday, security personnel tried to convince the farmers that they had been permitted to hold their tractor parade in Delhi after the Republic Day parade at Rajpath concluded. “But some groups of farmers did not relent and started moving towards the Outer Ring Road breaking police barricades," an official said.

NDTV reported that chaos unfolded at the Singhu border, which divides Delhi and Haryana, and Tikri border in the western part of the national capital where thousands were seen marching with flags, many of them on tractors.

A video from Akshardham showed policemen firing tear gas shells as the protesters looked for cover.

The farmers' tractor rally against the new agricultural laws - Kisaan Parade - was expected to be held after 12 PM. However, huge crowds gathered on the borders at around 8 AM.

More than 5,000 protesters near the Singhu border were adamant to march ahead. At Tikri, farmers' leaders asked the protesters to maintain calm after the march began at around 9am. The representatives decided to hold a meeting with police to decide the timing of the rally. "Our rally will be peaceful and we will stick to the routes assigned," a leader said, reported ndtv.com.

The protesting farmer unions have also announced a foot march to Parliament on February 1, when the annual Budget is presented, to press for their demands including a repeal of the three new agriculture laws.