Australian police appealed for witnesses on Sunday after unknown assailants attempted to decapitate a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.
The life-sized bronze statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Australian Indian Community Center in the Melbourne suburb of Rowville just one day earlier.
Gandhi is widely credited as the leader who steered India along a path of non-violence towards independence from British rule in 1947.
"An unknown number of offenders have used a power tool to damage the bronze statue," a Victoria state police spokesperson said, adding that detectives were investigating.
Prime Minister Morrison said he was devastated to learn of the vandalism.
"Australia is the most successful multicultural and immigration nation in the world and attacks on cultural monuments will not be tolerated," Morrison said, adding, "It is disgraceful and extremely disappointing to see this level of disrespect."
Incompatible with Australian ideals
Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge, Victoria Opposition Leader Matthew Guy and Consulate General of India Raj Kumar were among those who took part in the unveiling Friday alongside Morrison.
The assistant minister for customs, community safety and multicultural affairs Jason Wood, who was also present at the unveiling, called the attempted beheading of the statue a "disgraceful act."
"Australia celebrates everyone's culture and traditions," Wood told public broadcaster ABC. He added, "There is no place for anyone trying to bully or intimidate our communities."
A shocked and saddened Australian Indian community
Surya Prakash Soni, the president of the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria, called the vandalism a "low act."
"The community is very shocked and sad," he said.
Vasan Srinivasan, Australia India Community Charitable Trust chair, told Melbourne newspaper The Age, "Of course it is not appropriate for someone to do this, but we can fix the Gandhi statue."
Srinivasan said the person responsible "needs some support to make sure he gets well.”
The statue was a gift from the Indian government.
In December of 2020, the statue of Gandhi in front of the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., was defaced in an attack blamed on Sikh separatists and in January of this year, a Gandhi statue in Davis, California, was ripped down and decapitated.