New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): In view of the tensed situation at the Singhu border, the protesters camping at the site have been cornered to a designated area near the central stage, while the key routes connecting Delhi and Haryana around the border were blocked on Thursday.

Several routes connecting both Delhi and Haryana to the Singhu border were also closed by the Delhi police and para military forces. Besides, barricades have also been put up to disperse the protesters.

"We have stepped up arrangements to prevent any untoward incident at the Singhu border. The shops adjoining the border were also forced to shut," said a senior Delhi police officer.

Two days after the violence broke out in the national capital, local residents around the Singhu border on Thursday demanded that farmers should vacate the protest site.

Some locals from Bakhtawar Pur and Hamidpur villages were seen agitating against the farmers at the border.

Singhu appeared a little subdued, a lot emptier as the deployment of the additional police force made the situation more tensed and charged up. Apprehensions were raised about a possible action by cops on the protesters as the news from Ghazipur border too reached Singhu about the mounting pressure by the Uttar Pradesh police.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over two month now against the Centre's three farm laws.