Gandhi’s statue outside Indian Embassy in US desecrated amid protests

News: The statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy in the US was vandalised with graffiti and spray paint on the night between June 2nd and 3rd, and a complaint has been registered with local law enforcement officials.

Here are five components of the story:

• The Indian embassy has informed the State Department and registered a complaint with local law enforcement agencies, which are now conducting an investigation into the incident.
• On June 3, a team of officials from Metropolitan Police in consultation with the Diplomatic Security Service and National Park Police visited the site. The team is now conducting inquiries to further the investigation in this matter.
• The priority now is to clean up the site at the earliest and efforts are being made for the same.
• The vandalism of this statue comes during a time when there are widespread protests under the Black Lives Matter movement in America against the killing of African American George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. These protests have spread throughout the country and have also gone global.
• Some of these protests have turned violent, according to videos at times the violence has been instigated by the police and at times by protestors themselves. Amid the violence, American landmarks, monuments and buildings have also been damaged.