U.S. condemns attack on Indian consulate in San Francisco

Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, protesters on Sunday broke open the makeshift security barriers raised by the San Francisco police and installed two Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises

The United States on Monday strongly condemned the attack on the Indian consulate in San Francisco by a group of separatist Sikhs, terming it absolutely unacceptable.

Raising pro-Khalistan slogans, the protesters on Sunday broke open the makeshift security barriers raised by the city police and installed two Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises. Two consulate personnel soon removed these flags.

Soon thereafter, a group of angry protesters entered the consulate premises and started hitting the door and windows with the iron rods.

"That vandalism, it's just absolutely unacceptable," John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for strategic communications at the White House told reporters at a daily news conference, strongly condemning the incident.

"The State Department's diplomatic security service is working with local authorities. I can't speak for the San Francisco police, but I can say that the diplomatic security service is working with local authorities to properly investigate and obviously, the State Department is going to be working from an infrastructure perspective to repair the damage, but it's unacceptable," Mr. Kirby said in response to a question.

The State Department also issued a statement indicating that those behind the act would be held accountable.

"The U.S. condemns the attack on Sunday against the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. Violence against diplomatic facilities within the US is a punishable crime," it said.