A life-sized bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located here in Union Square near Manhattan, was vandalised on Saturday, an act strongly condemned as ‘despicable’ by the Consulate General of India, triggering shock and disappointment among the Indian-American community.

The incident took place early on Saturday, when the statue was defaced by some unknown persons, the Consulate General of India in New York said. “The Consulate condemns this act of vandalism in the strongest terms,” it said, adding that the matter has been taken up with local authorities.