Windows smashed at India consulates in London, SF

LONDON (AP) — Windows at India’s High Commission in London and at the Consulate General of India in San Francisco were smashed during separate demonstrations by Sikh protesters, police in both cities said Monday.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said a man was arrested Sunday afternoon on suspicion of violent disorder outside the diplomatic mission, where two security guards were slightly injured. In San Francisco, dozens of protesters gathered outside the consulate and smashed windows with their flagpoles after a skirmish with embassy workers, a protester said.

San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca said in an email that embassy workers were injured, though he didn’t say how many or the extent of the injuries. Suspects fled and have not been arrested, he said.

The US State Department was working with local authorities to investigate the incident and repair the damage.

“We certainly condemn that vandalism,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday during a briefing.

The protesters were affiliated with a Sikh separatist movement that seeks to create a new homeland or breakaway state, called “Khalistan.”

The incidents came a day after police in India’s Punjab state launched a manhunt to capture Amritpal Singh, a separatist leader who supports the Khalistan movement. His supporters staged protests in the majority Sikh state over the weekend and 112 were arrested, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

In San Francisco, police officers arrived at the Consulate General on Sunday afternoon to find shattered glass windows. Workers described protesters trying to enter the building, Rueca said. He didn’t provide additional details on how the confrontation began.