Members of the Indian diaspora in Toronto, Canada, assembled outside the consulate office on Saturday, 8 July, waving the Indian Tricolour to present a unified front against a pro-Khalistan demonstration happening simultaneously.
A video shared by news agency ANI, which has been widely circulated on social media, shows people with the Indian flag raising the slogans "Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Vande Mataram", "Long Live India", and "Khalistan Murdabad".
"Canada is a peaceful country, and we wanted to remain peaceful, and we should. Basically, we are trying to tell the government of Canada to take cognisance of this that this is not freedom of expression. This is for sure not a freedom of expression."A member of the Indian community in the counter protest to ANI
Following the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, several pro-Khalistani elements have announced rallies outside Indian consulates in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
The Indian government had summoned the Canadian High Commissioner Cameron MacKayove last week in response to the scheduled rally organised by Khalistan supporters in Toronto on 8 July.
For what was labelled the "freedom rally" in Toronto, promotional posters featured threats to India's envoy in Ottawa and Consul General in Toronto.
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly took to Twitter to clarify Canada's stance on the issue, saying, "Canada takes its obligations under the Vienna Conventions regarding the safety of diplomates very seriously."
Further, Joly termed the promotional material related to this protest "unacceptable."
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