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Several hundred members of Canada’s Sikh community gathered outside the Indian consulate in Toronto on Saturday to protest the unsolved murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader. The protesters accused the Indian government of being behind the assassination and demanded accountability for the crime. The incident has strained relations between Canada and India, adding to existing tensions surrounding Sikh separatist movements.
Visuals of the protest show the demonstrators, predominantly male, carried flags symbolising the separatist movement for Khalistan and chanted slogans in support of their cause. They can also be seen desecrating the Indian Flag with footwear, in an attempt to showcase disrespect towards the tricolour.
They marched from the Toronto suburbs to the Indian consulate, where they encountered approximately 50 counterdemonstrators supporting the Indian government. Tensions escalated, with one protester attempting to breach a barrier before being apprehended by the police.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of a Sikh temple and an advocate for the creation of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, was fatally shot on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver with a significant Sikh population. India had previously labelled Nijjar a wanted terrorist, alleging his involvement in terrorist attacks within the country, a charge he denied. The Sikh community in Canada believes that Nijjar’s murder was a politically motivated assassination.
Protesters demanded that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) thoroughly investigate Nijjar’s murder as a political assassination. They argued that the Canadian government should treat the case with the same urgency and seriousness as any other act of violence against a Canadian citizen. Some members of the Sikh community expressed concerns about foreign interference, accusing the Indian government of involvement in the crime.
