Hindu nationalists torched a PepsiCo warehouse and picketed US government offices in western India on Saturday to protest the cancellation of a US visa for the elected head of Gujarat state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Washington to urgently reconsider its decision.
Nearly 150 activists from the Bajrang Dal party barged into the American soft drink manufacturer's warehouse in Surat city in Gujarat, smashed bottles and set fire to parts of the building, said Dharmesh Joshi, a witness.
They also ransacked a nearby PepsiCo office, he said.
The protesters carried placards reading: ``Down with the US,'' and ``Boycott US goods and the Americans.''
The State Department had no immediate comment, spokesman Noel Clay said Saturday.
Surat police chief V.K. Gupta confirmed the attack happened, saying that about a dozen workers fled the warehouse when the attack occurred and that firefighters rushed to the scene and doused the flames.
PepsiCo representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
On Friday, the US government revoked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's visa, citing his role in 2002 religious riots in the state.
The US State Department said Friday it had denied a diplomatic visa to Modi and revoked his existing tourist/business visa under the US Immigration and Nationality Act that bars people responsible for violations of religious freedom from getting a visa.
Spokesman Adam Ereli said the US was responding to a finding by India's National Human Rights Commission that held Modi's government responsible for the 2002 Hindu-Muslim violence in the state, India's worst in a decade.
About 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the violence.
Several political parties and other rights groups also accused Modi of doing little to stop the violence.
On Saturday, Singh said Washington knew of India's concerns.
``We have also called for the urgent reconsideration of the decision by the US government,'' Singh said in a statement to Parliament, adding that the decision showed a lack of sensitivity and due courtesy.
Modi called the decision an insult to India.
Expecting a violent response to the visa ban, authorities had tightened security across western India where the Hindu nationalists have a strong presence.
Bajrang Dal is an affiliate of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that governs Gujarat and to which Modi belongs.
Separately, a further 150 Bajrang Dal activists also tried to enter a US Visa Application Center in Ahmadabad, the main Gujarat city, but they were turned back by police.
The protesters dispersed after shouting their condemnation of the visa revocation.
Police arrested more than 100 Bharatiya Janata Party protesters who tried to break through riot barriers outside the US consulate in the western city of Bombay. They were later freed, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
RSS