Chinese student protests spread across Vancouver – Asia Pacific

Protests against China’s draconian “zero COVID” policy and the Chinese Communist Party government swept Vancouver on Sunday.

About 200 people gathered at the North Square of the Vancouver Art Gallery for a candlelight rally to mourn the victims of the Nov. 24 apartment fire in Urumqi, the capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. rice field. At least 10 people died when firefighters and equipment failed to arrive in time. It marked a turning point in anger that had been boiling for weeks over the pandemic lockdown, including mass protests at the Foxconn iPhone factory in Zhengzhou.

On a rainy Vancouver night, art gallery steps are strewn with flowers and lit candles, and portraits of Urumqi fire victims are strewn with messages written in Chinese and English, and President Xi Jinping resigns. and the words, “Give me freedom. Death.” Winnie the Pooh dolls are propped back-to-back on a table and represent Xi’s unflattering caricature. One poster superimposed a Nazi swastika on the hammer and sickle of the Chinese Communist Party and ridiculed the Communist Party’s “Serve the People” slogan.

A street in Shanghai, named after the capital of Xinjiang, turned into a gathering place for protesters on Saturday.

Portable sound system speakers led the crowds in Vancouver with songs and slogans, repeating phrases heard throughout the weekend in social media clips of the Chinese street protests. Some speakers also expressed their support for Tibetans, feminists and LGBTQ people.

Recently elected ABC Vancouver County. Lenny Chow tweeted a photo taken after the protest. This included a selfie next to a street sign replica on a tablet of a silent protester.

“In memory of all those who lost their lives due to our zero COVID policy. Thank you to everyone who attended tonight’s memorial event. [VAG], even in the rain.Light of [candles] No! tweeted Zhou, who came to Vancouver from Beijing in 2005 as a student.

Recently elected Vancouver City Councilman Lenny Chow tweeted a photo with a replica road sign | Photo: Twitter/@lennynanzhou

A few protesters waved Republic of China flags. One student explained that although he is not Taiwanese, he opposes communism and that China’s true government believes he fled to Taiwan in 1949. He briefly exchanged words with a larger group who held a smaller version of the People’s Republic of China’s five-star flag. We didn’t need the Vancouver Police who were parked on Howe Street.

An elderly man then moved the flyers from the art gallery walls to the Georgia and Howe lampposts. He called on Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and Ukrainians to “support all those who resist dictatorship, oppression and violence.”

The man, who declined to give his name, said he was originally from Hong Kong and was encouraged by the young people in the crowd.

Andrew, who did not want his full name published, was the man with Zhou’s selfie tablet.

“I have been Canadian for a very long time, but I still have Chinese heritage and my family is still Chinese. I believe I should come here to show my support and show solidarity with my people. “To show that even if this road sign is removed in Shanghai, it will still be displayed in any city around the world, as long as people support democracy and support common sense humanity.”

Andrew, who refused to release his last name, displayed on his tablet a replica of a Shanghai street sign where protesters gathered to mourn the dead in an apartment fire in Xinjiang and demand an end to the CCP’s draconian pandemic. , silently protested . Lockdown. Behind him is a blank sheet like the one Chinese dissidents shook last weekend.Photo: Bob McKinn

Protests across China are reminiscent of the spring 1989 student riots that ended with the Tiananmen Square massacre. Andrew, who studied political science, worries that history will repeat itself. He also called the students who came to protest outside the VAG brave.

“Firstly, many of them, the international students, have families in China. It has been shown time and time again that the CCP can cause problems and stop protests abroad by warning their families. I have.”

In the 1970s, the Chinese government established the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). The association has chapters in colleges and college campuses around BC. Liberate Chinese students and mobilize them to oppose opinions that oppose the CCP’s position. “

No one from the CSSA chapter at the University of BC responded to comments.

Sunday night’s mood was in stark contrast to the heated protests by Chinese nationalist students in various cities, including Vancouver, in August 2019 to counter pro-democracy demonstrations supporting Hong Kong citizens. It was a target.

Local protests took place outside the Broadway City Hall station on the Canada Line, Granville Mall, the Chinese Consulate and outside 10th Church where Hong Kong protesters held a vigil of prayer. Some nationalists waved Chinese flags at a parade of supercars.Canada Vancouver Shanxi Indigenous Association later took responsibility for organizing nationalist protests.