India has condemned an outbreak of religious violence that rocked Leicester over the weekend.
Police made several arrests after disturbances broke out at what the force termed “an unplanned protest” on Saturday.
Fifteen people were then detained on Sunday evening in east Leicester “to deter further disorder”.
The violence came amid tension between mainly young men from the Hindu and Muslim communities in the East Midlands city.
Additional officers had been on patrol in the area in recent weeks after a number of incidents of disorder following an Asia Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan.
In a tweet on Monday, India’s High Commission in the UK criticised those it claimed had attacked “the Indian community” in Leicester and had vandalised “premises and symbols of Hindu religion”.
We have strongly taken up this matter with the UK authorities and have sought immediate action against those involved in these attacks. We call on the authorities to provide protection to the affected people,” it added.
The statement made no mention of allegations of wrongdoing perpetrated against the city’s Muslim population.
Over the weekend, the Leicester-based Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO) said there had been “a number of failures” to address what it called a “rise in racism and extreme ideology”.