In Pics | How farmers are staying put at Ghazipur border

Hundreds of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) members stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Friday as the crowd swelled there overnight, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site. Here's a look at the protest site:

In Pics | How farmers are staying put at Ghazipur border

Hundreds of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) members stayed put on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on January 29 as the crowd swelled there overnight, notwithstanding the Ghaziabad administration's ultimatum to vacate the UP Gate protest site. Credit: AFP Photo

The confrontation was building up at the UP Gate in Ghazipur even as frequent power cuts were witnessed on January 28 evening at the protest site, where BKU members, led by Rakesh Tikait, are staying put since November 28 last year. Credit: AFP Photo

Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey and Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani visited the protest site post-midnight for a review of the situation even as hundreds of security personnel in anti-riot gears were deployed there since January 28. Credit: PTI Photo

Many of these personnel, including those from the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), left the protest site in the dead of the night following official instructions. Credit: PTI Photo

Flanked by supporters at 1 am, Tikait remained at the centrestage of the protest site — the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, which has been barricaded from both sides, prohibiting regular traffic movement. Credit: PTI Photo

Around 500 protesters stayed put at the UP Gate with more pouring in from western Uttar Pradesh in the night on the call of the BKU, an influential farmers' union in north India. Credit: PTI Photo

Excess security force from the protest site has been withdrawn and only a minimal deployment of personnel remains there, a Ghaziabad police officer told PTI. Credit: PTI Photo

Several protesters waved the tricolour with some waving flags of farmer unions such as the Kisan Ekta Manch amid a continuous sloganeering of