Khalistan supporters attack Indian journalist in US near embassy

Washington: Indian journalist Lalit Jha based in Washington was attacked by Khalistan supporters while he was covering a protest taken out by them outside Indian Embassy on Saturday.

Jha thanked US Secret Service for protecting him while saying that he was hit on his left ear with two sticks during the attack.

In a tweet following the incident he said at one point he felt so threatened that he called 911 and spotted Secret Service officers.

Adding a video to the Twitter handle, he said ‘the gentleman below hit my left ear with these 2 sticks…’. The journalist however chose not to take legal action on the attack against him.

Later Jha told news agency ANI that pro-Khalistan protesters in support of Amritpal Singh crowded outside Indian Embassy, openly threatened the Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu alongside threatening to vandalise the embassy.

Turbaned men of different ages, raising pro-Khalistan slogans, came in from across DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area.

The organisers of the protest made speeches in both English and Punjabi using microphones.

The Indian embassy condemned what it said ‘a grave and unwarranted attack on a senior journalist’, acknowledging it had seen ‘disturbing visuals’ of the attack on the senior journalist from the Press Trust of India.

The attack, according to the Indian Embassy, only underscores ‘the anti-social tendencies of the so-called 'Khalistani protestors' and their supporters.

The supporters of Khalistan staged multiple protests outside Indian embassy and the San Francisco Consulate, where an attack occurred on March 20.

Visuals showed a huge mob, raising pro-Khalistan slogans, brandishing Khalistan flag poles, smashing glass doors and windows of the consulate building.

Meanwhile, the United States condemned the attack on the Indian consulate in San Francisco, saying it is’ absolutely unacceptable’.