Priest at Sikh temple in California 'assaulted', locals allege hate crime

priest of a gurdwara in California was allegedly assaulted on Thursday night in an apparent hate crime, media reports said on Friday.

priest, Amarjit Singh, told local Fres Bee newspaper that an intruder, who broke open window to enter his home inside gurdwara campus, punched him, asked him to go back to his country and yelled obscenities at him. Singh is a priest at Sikh Temple Modesto Ceres, around 100 miles (160 kilometres) east of San Francisco.

miscreant, who was wearing a mask, allegedly punched Singh in neck. He shouted at him, saying "country, country, country, go back, go back, country," Singh told daily. attacker also yelled obscenities at him and had something in his hand to break windows, he said.

Modesto City Councilman Mani Grewal, who is also a member of gurdwara, described it as a hate crime. In a video, he said it looked like "this was an attack incited by hate, by bigotry". "We have seen that this has been going on for a while w," Grewal told Fres Bee, adding that such incidents had increased in last couple of years.

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Police & politicians react

local police, which has started an investigation into issue, said it was too early to conclude that this was a hate crime. Local Congressman condemned incident."I stand with my friends in Sikh community at this terrible time. Every American -- regardless of faith -- should be able to practise ir religion freely and without fear of violence. This disgusting attack is t representative of who we are and we must find person responsible," Congressman Josh Harder said.

"This is part of a larger pattern of hate against mirity communities in Central Valley. An attack on one mirity community is an attack on all mirity communities -- wher it's Sikh, Lati, Muslim, LGBTQ, Assyrian or anyone else," he added

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