TORONTO, Canada: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned as “unacceptable” violence at a Hindu temple near Toronto on Sunday, following skirmishes blamed by some leaders on Sikh activists.
Local police in the city of Brampton, roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Toronto, said they had deployed heavily outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir in order to maintain calm during a protest.
A spokesman for the Peel Regional Police told AFP that no arrests had been made. Police have also declined to assign blame for the reported violence.
“The acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today are unacceptable. Every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely,” Trudeau wrote on X.
A federal lawmaker and member of Trudeau’s Liberal Party, Chandra Arya, blamed the incident on “Khalistanis,” a reference to supporters of the fringe separatist movement for an independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab state.
Relations between Canada and India have nosedived after Ottawa accused the Indian government of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan activist.
Beyond Nijjar’s killing, Canada has accused India of directing a broad campaign targeting Sikh activists on Canadian soil, which Ottawa says has included intimidation, threats and violence.
“A red line has been crossed by Canadian Khalistani extremists today,” Arya, who is Hindu, posted on X.
“The attack by Khalistanis on the Hindu-Canadian devotees inside the premises of the Hindu Sabha temple in Brampton shows how deep and brazen has Khalistani violent extremism has become in Canada,” he said.
Video circulating on social media appears to show individuals carrying yellow Khalistan flags clashing with a rival group, including people holding Indian flags. There were also isolated fist fights, videos show.
Trudeau charged the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with violating Canadian sovereignty.
India has rejected the allegations.
Delhi and Ottawa earlier this month each expelled the other’s ambassador and other senior diplomats.
Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto
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Trudeau condemns violence at Hindu temple near Toronto
- “The acts of violence at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton today are unacceptable. Every Canadian has the right to practice their faith freely and safely,” Trudeau wrote on X
US lawmaker Fine criticized by rights advocates, Democrats after anti-Muslim remarks
- Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others
WASHINGTON: Rights advocates and multiple Democrats on Tuesday condemned anti-Muslim comments by Republican US Representative Randy Fine who said on Sunday that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”
Fine, whose comments against Muslims have often sparked outrage, has dismissed the criticism and since doubled down on his remarks on social media. The Council on American-Islamic Relations designated the Republican US lawmaker from Florida as an anti-Muslim extremist last year.
“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine said on X on Sunday in a post that had over 40 million views as of Tuesday afternoon.
Some high-profile Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom called for him to resign while House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Fine an “Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot.”
Jeffries also called for Republicans — who hold a majority in both chambers of Congress — to hold Fine accountable.
“To ignore this is to accept and normalize it,” Democratic US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. Fine’s past comments include calling for the mass expulsion of all Muslims from the US, labeling of Muslims as “terrorists” and the mocking of the starvation and killing of Palestinians in Gaza, among others. Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the US in recent years due to a range of factors including hard-line immigration policies and white-supremacist rhetoric, as well as the fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza on American society.
