A group of activists as well as organisations in various parts of India burned photos and an effigy of Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in response to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in a violent skirmish with the Chinese army in Ladakh on Monday night.
People gathered in groups to vent their anger, with placards reading “traitor China” and chanted slogans against the country to the sound of drums.
The protests were seen in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat as well as Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal.
Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, a political and cultural organisation affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s parent organisation RSS, led a protest to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi today to agitate over the border skirmish.
The members of the organisation were detained by police outside the Chinese Embassy for carrying out the protest.
Indian student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also demonstrated outside the Chinese Consulate in Kolkata, West Bengal.
The recent escalation between the two countries has been followed by several high-level and late-night talks between defence officials, the foreign ministry, and other authorities in New Delhi.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army, in a statement, accused India “of going back on its word” and violating commitments reached by both sides during army commander-level talks on 6 June.
"The Indian Army violated its commitment and crossed the LAC again, illegally and deliberately launched provocative attacks, triggered fierce physical confrontation between the two sides, resulting in casualties", said PLA Western Theatre Command spokesperson Zhang Shuili.