A Hindu temple in Canada was vandalised on Wednesday, in what the police described as a “hate-motivated incident”.
On Wednesday, Windsor police said officers were sent to the local Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, local Hindu temple in the 1700 block of Northway Avenue in Ontario, following a report of hate-motivated vandalism.
“Officers discovered anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti sprayed in black on an exterior wall of the building,” the police statement said.
Police obtained a surveillance video of the area in which two suspects can be seen.
“In the video, one suspect appears to commit the vandalism on the wall of the building while the other keeps watch,” the statement read.
“At the time of the incident, one suspect wore a black sweater, black pants with a small white logo on the left leg, and black and white high-top running shoes. The second suspect wore black pants, a sweatshirt, black shoes, and white socks,” it added.
In February this year, another Hindu temple, the Ram Mandir, in Canada’s Mississauga was vandalised with anti-India graffiti.
The Consulate General of India in Toronto urged Canadian authorities to investigate the incident.
“We strongly condemn the defacing of Ram Mandir in Mississauga with anti-India graffiti. We have requested Canadian authorities to investigate the incident and take prompt action on perpetrators,” the consulate general of India in Toronto tweeted.
Before this, another Hindu temple – the Gauri Shankar Mandir in Brampton – was defaced with anti-India graffiti. Slogans such as “Khalistan Zindabad (Long Live the Khalistan movement) and Hindustan Murdabad (Death to India)” were found spray-painted on the outer wall of the historic temple.
The mayor of Brampton Patrick Brown also condemned the attack on the temple. “This hateful act of vandalism has no place in our City or Country. I have raised my concerns over this hate crime with @ChiefNish [Nishan Duraiappah, chief of Peel Regional Police] and @PeelPolice,” he tweeted at the time.
Mr Brown said that “everyone deserves to feel safe in their place of worship”.
In September last year, an unverified visual of the defaced BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Toronto’s Etobicoke showed the message “Long live Khalistan” painted in orange on one of the walls.
