Indians hold protests day after violence near temple in Canada

TORONTO: Thousands of Indo-Canadians on Monday protested against the attack on a Hindu temple in the Greater Toronto Area before dispersing as police declared their assembly "unlawful" and deployed armed personnel in riot gear to clear the protesters, fuelling anger.

- Anirudh Bhattacharyya

Pro-Khalistan radicals barged into the Hindu temple, assaulted congregants, and disrupted a consular camp on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led India's condemnation of the violence and demanded that the perpetrators must be prosecuted. He called the attack deliberate and said it was part of cowardly attempts to intimidate Indian diplomats.

India-Canada relations have been at an all-time low over accusations of the Indian government's links to the targeting of pro-Khalistan activists in the North American country. India and Canada last month expelled six diplomats each.

On Monday, around 5,000 Indo-Canadians, mainly Hindus, protested outside the temple amid a heavy police presence and closure of the nearby thoroughfare. Peel Regional Police declared the protest an "unlawful assembly" as "weapons" had been "observed" within the demonstration. "All parties must leave the area now or face arrest," the PRP said.