As External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was leaving the Chatham House venue, after a discussion, a man ran toward his car and tore the Indian national flag in front of police officers.
Videos of the chaos showed Khalistani extremists, waving flags and chanting slogans, outside Chatham House. The man, who tore the Tricolour, was also caught in another video running aggressively towards Jaishankar's convoy. Despite appearing hesitant to act initially, the police present at the spot later took the man and other extremists away.
During his UK visit, which will end on March 9, Jaishakar also met UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. The two leaders spoke on several topics, including political cooperation, education, mobility, people-to-people exchanges and strategic coordination, among others.
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said that any attempts to disrupt public events are completely unacceptable.
"We strongly condemn the incident that took place outside Chatham House yesterday during the External Affairs Minister's visit to the UK. While the UK upholds the right to peaceful protest, any attempts to intimidate, threaten, or disrupt public events are completely unacceptable," the FCDO statement said.
The Metropolitan Police, it said, acted swiftly to address the situation.
"We remain fully committed to ensuring the security of all our diplomatic visitors, in line with our international obligations," the statement added.
The UK's reaction with regard to the incident came hours after the Indian government strongly reacted to the security breach, condemning the "provocative activities".
"We have seen the footage of a breach of security during the visit of EAM to the UK. We condemn the provocative activities of this small group of separatists and extremists. We deplore the misuse of democratic freedoms by such elements.
We expect the host government in such cases to fully live up to their diplomatic obligations," said the statement from MEA.
During the discussion at Chatham House, the External Affairs Minister faced a question by a Pakistani journalist, who claimed the same would make Jaishankar a "little nervous".
The journalist then accused India of "illegally occupying Kashmir". Furthermore, the journalist claimed Kashmiris are "up in arms", alleging India has stationed "one million troops to control seven million Kashmiris" before asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi could utilise his friendship with US President Donald Trump to resolve the long-standing Kashmir issue.
Dr Jaishankar firmly dismissed any third-party intervention and defended India's approach to handling the Kashmir issue.
"I think the part we are waiting for is the return of the stolen part of Kashmir, which is under an illegal Pakistani occupation. When that's done, I assure you, Kashmir solved," the External Affairs Minister said
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