On a day widely regarded as the founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in Vancouver rallied in masks in front of the Chinese consulate.
Midnight on Oct. 1 saw yellow lanterns standing four-feet tall, lit solemnly on the “Day of Grief,” the founding of Communist China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
One lantern boldly read “F#*% the CCP day.”
Others spelled out: “Free Hong Kong” and “Stand with Hong Kong, Uyghurs, and Tibetans.”
Photo: SubmittedThe display was part of a globally coordinated day of protests in which demonstrators are calling for the Canadian government to take action to help the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong.
More than 100 sites around the globe held similar protests, calling for an end to “the illegal occupation of Tibet” and “the detention of millions of Uyghurs in internment camps" at the hands of the Chinese government.
“We can’t stay silent to the horrendous suffering of the oppressed groups. We want to show everyone that there’s hope in solidarity, there’s power in people and power in art,” said Vancouver protestors on Thursday.
A group of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists painstakingly put together a giant four-feet lantern display in protest of the atrocities by the Chinese Communist Party on a day that is regarded as the People’s Republic of China’s anniversary. pic.twitter.com/O92DNPIp02
— Vancouverites Concerned About HK (@VanCAHK) October 1, 2020
The group hopes to see the federal government impose sanctions on China, in order for it to end human rights abuses.
A Canadian independent think tank, Fraser Institute, found Hong Kong the world’s freest economy in its latest report but predicted the Chinese government’s 2019 and 2020 “interventions” are likely to hurt its position in the next assessment.
In June 2019, the Chinese government put into motion a bill that would allow it to extradite criminal suspects, thereby threatening the democracy of Hong Kong.
That sparked mass protests in the city where demonstrators conflicted oftentimes violently, with police.
