Khalistan supporters try to incite violence at Indian Embassy in Washington; Secret Service, police foil their bid

Organisers of the protest had a very hostile approach towards an Indian reporter covering the protest

A group of pro-Khalistani Sikhs on Sunday assembled in front of New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Washington DC and staged a protest against the crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh in India.

The protesters waved the flags of Khalistan, demanding its secession from India, with some of them even hurling abuse at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. They resorted to personally targeting India’s ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, in their speeches.

A journalist of the Press Trust of India covering the agitation was also verbally intimidated and physically assaulted by the protesters.

The presence of local police and diplomatic security service personnel in good numbers on the scene prevented the protesters from turning violent – unlike the incident when the Consulate General of India in San Francisco had been vandalised during a similar demonstration early last week.

Read | Indian-Americans rally in support of India at San Francisco consulate after Khalistani attack

The demonstration in front of the Embassy of India in Washington DC was the newest in a series of protests the pro-Khalistani Sikhs staged in the capitals of the western nations in the wake of the launch of crackdown against Amritpal Singh and other secessionists and extremists in Punjab.

Sandhu was not at the embassy when the protesters staged the demonstration on Sunday (Saturday in Washington DC). One of the protesters, who addressed others in the group, was heard accusing New Delhi’s envoy to Washington DC as a face of India’s “terror diplomacy” in the “free world”. With others waving the flags of Khalistan, he continued his rant, accusing the Government of India of killing innocent people of the minority communities in the country, including Sikhs and Muslims.

“It is unacceptable for you guys to kill minorities, to rape Christian women, to kill innocent Sikh men, to kill Muslims, to kill people in Nagaland, and then come here and say that you are the biggest democracy. This hypocrisy comes to an end now,” said the protesters addressing others.

The protesters had brought wooden sticks that were used as poles to wave the flags of Khalistan.

The personnel of the Diplomatic Security Service foiled an attempt by some of the protesters to cross the road and come closer to the Embassy of India, particularly near the pole that had the national flag of the country flying at its top.

A group of pro-Khalistani British Sikhs had on March 19 taken down India’s national flag, which had been flying at the High Commission of India in London. New Delhi had strongly reacted and the British Deputy High Commissioner Christina Scott had been summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs, where senior officials had demanded an explanation for absence of security personnel to guard the High Commission of India in London.

The acting US envoy to India, Elizabeth Jones, had also been summoned to the MEA in New Delhi after the vandalism of CGI in San Francisco by the Khalistanis. President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had then taken to Twitter and condemned the incident, promising to ensure safety and security of the diplomats of India in future.

Similar protests by the Khalistanis were also seen in front of the Consulate General of India in Milan in Italy and Vancouver in Canada recently.