Thousands of Sikhs protest 1984 Golden Temple massacre - London

Over 15,000 Sikhs travelled from their Gudwaras (Temples) the length and breadth of the United Kingdom today to march and rally in memory of the brutal massacre on the 6th of June 1984 of over 7,000 Sikh worshippers by the Indian Army, ordered by ex-Prime Minister Indira Ghandi, as they celebrated a Sikh holy day at the Golden Temple complex. Simultaneously another 125 Sikh temples were attacked, leaving tens of thousands of Sikhs dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

Congregating in Hyde Park, the Sikhs listened to speeches and took part in prayers before the procession set off, led all the way by five Sikh high priests, barefooted and holding aloft their curved swords. Acolytes sprinkled holy water in their path to purify the ground in front of the priests the entire route of the march which moved down Park Lane, Green Park and Piccadilly, ending in Trafalgar Square where there were many inspirational speeches by members of the Sikh community, calling for accountability with the Indian government for the massacre, and also calling for their own state, Khalistan. Sikhs are not Hindus, and as such they have been discriminated against by the ruling Hindu parties for over 50 years, treated, they say, as second class citizens in their own country.