Three people were arrested on Sunday after a conflict broke out between groups outside a Surrey temple.
On Nov. 3, at 2:30 p.m., Surrey RCMP officers were at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir to maintain public safety during consular camps.
Consular camps give seniors of Indian descent a chance to meet with consular officials to complete administrative tasks, mostly related to their pensions, without having to attend the consulate in Vancouver.
RCMP said that during this time, hundreds of protesters with “opposing views” arrived and also began demonstrating.
In an email to Global News, Surrey RCMP said it could not report on the exact number of protesters at the scene but hundreds were outside the temple.
When violence broke out between the groups over their views about India, police said three people were then arrested and no one was injured.
“In terms of which group they were associated to, police remain neutral and the right to protest does not include the right to intimidate, threaten or assault any other person,” Surrey RCMP said in an emailed statement.
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“Surrey RCMP investigates criminal activity and if the protest is no longer peaceful or lawful the police will need to mitigate the circumstances. The police are mandated to ensure public safety and the safety of everyone involved in the dispute.”
The crowd dispersed within the hour following the arrests.
On Friday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge granted an order to establish a buffer zone around the Ross Street Gurdwara after officials said they expected confrontations between protesters and Indian consular officials on Saturday.
However, tensions have been high since the RCMP made allegations about Indian officials involved in criminal activity in Canada.
The three people arrested in Surrey have all been released from police custody, RCMP confirmed, while investigators from Surrey RCMP’s General Investigation Unit complete their investigation.
In Ontario, three people have been charged following an incident outside a Hindu temple on Sunday.
According to Peel Regional Police on Monday morning, three people were arrested and charged over the incident with other alleged acts still under investigation.
On Sunday, just after 2:30 p.m., Peel Regional Police said they were aware of a protest that occurred at a temple in Brampton, Ont., and urged the public to ensure a “peaceful and lawful protest,” noting it had an increased and visible presence to monitor activities.
About a half hour before the police’s post on X about the protest, Liberal cabinet minister Anita Anand said she was “concerned about reports of unacceptable violent attacks at the Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton.”
Video circulating on X appeared to show people using flagpoles to strike others.
According to police, investigators believed the same protesters who demonstrated outside the temple later relocated to two separate locations in Mississauga, Ont.
— with files from Sean Previl
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