Home windows at India’s Excessive Fee in London have been smashed and two safety guards have been barely injured throughout an illustration by Sikh protesters, police stated Monday.
London’s Metropolitan Police drive stated a person was arrested on suspicion of violent dysfunction exterior the diplomatic mission on Sunday afternoon.
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Footage posted on social media confirmed a person detach the Indian flag from a balcony of the constructing whereas a crowd of individuals beneath waving shiny yellow “Khalistan” banners appeared to encourage him.
They’re believed to be supporters of a Sikh separatist motion looking for to create a brand new homeland or breakaway state.
Police stated officers have been referred to as however protesters had largely dispersed by the point they arrived.
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“An investigation was launched, and one male was arrested close by a short while afterward suspicion of violent dysfunction. Inquiries proceed,” the drive stated.
The Indian authorities stated it had summoned British Deputy Excessive Commissioner Christina Scott in New Delhi to demand an evidence.
“India finds unacceptable the indifference of the U.Ok. authorities to the safety of Indian diplomatic premises and personnel within the U.Ok.,” the Indian authorities stated in an announcement.
The incident in London got here a day after police in India’s Punjab state launched a manhunt to seize Amritpal Singh, a separatist chief who helps the Khalistan motion for a separate Sikh homeland. His supporters staged protests within the majority Sikh state over the weekend and almost 80 of them have been arrested. Singh has not but been arrested.
The Khalistan motion is banned in India, the place officers see it and affiliated teams as a nationwide safety menace. However the motion nonetheless has some assist within the state, in addition to past, in international locations like Canada and the UK that are house to a large Sikh diaspora.
U.Ok. International Workplace Minister Tariq Ahmad stated he was “appalled” by the incident in London.
“This can be a fully unacceptable motion in opposition to the integrity of the Mission and its employees,” he wrote on Twitter. “The U.Ok. authorities will all the time take the safety of the Indian Excessive Fee critically.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned “the violent dysfunction and vandalism.”
“There isn’t any place in our metropolis for this sort of habits,” he stated.
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Related Press Author Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed to this story.