A Hindu temple located in Canada’s Ontario province has been vandalized, in what local police are investigating as a “hate-motivated incident”.
A statement by Windsor Police on Wednesday said that officers dispatched to the temple discovered “anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti sprayed in black on an exterior wall of the building.”
The police have obtained footage, in which one of the suspects was seen vandalizing the temple, while the other was on guard.
The police have asked local residents to check their camera footage at the time of the incident in a bid to gather further evidence, per the statement.
Attacks Against Temples, Indian Interests on Rise in Canada
In other incidents in recent months, Hindu temples in other cities in Ontario—Brampton and Mississauga—have faced similar acts of vandalism.
The Indian High Commission in Canada has condemned these incidents and urged the Canadian authorities to act promptly against the perpetrators.
Over the last month, several statues of Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi have also been vandalized and sprayed with anti-India graffiti. Two such incidents have occurred in Ontario and British Columbia provinces.
These incidents come amid an apparent resurgence of pro-Khalistan sentiment in some sections of the Sikh community, against the backdrop of the Indian police crackdown against radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh last month.
Over the last month, pro-Khalistan protests have erupted at Indian diplomatic facilities in Canada, the US, and the United Kingdom.
India ranked as the biggest source of immigrants for Canada last year, as per federal statistics. The country is also home to the biggest Sikh community in the world outside the Indian state of Punjab.