Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Chinese Consulate office in Vancouver last night to demand the release of two Canadians who have been detained by Beijing since 2018.

Massive protest against China in Vancouver

IN BureauUpdated September 29, 2020 14:13 IST  

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Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Chinese Consulate office in Vancouver last night to demand the release of two Canadians who have been detained by Beijing since 2018.

As IndiaNarrative.com had reported a few months ago, not just the Indians but many Canadians are also hugely upset with China right now after two of its citizens — Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman — were charged with spying by Beijing and put up at an undisclosed location without any consular access.

‘Friends of Canada-India’, along with seven other organizations, while raising slogans against Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), raised concerns over China’s new Hong Kong security law and also demanded China to free Tibet and move out of Indian territory in Ladakh.

“The security law threatens freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. China is behaving highly irresponsibly and is following a dictatorial approach. We are also demanding the release of two detained Canadians caught in a diplomatic standoff over Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou,” said Maninder Gill of Friends of Canada-India.

Gill, along with Ashish Manral, Avtar Johal, Paul Braich, Baljinder Cheema, Gurcharan Sarabha, Parmjit Khosla, Dr Hakam Bhullar, led the protests by a crowd which included more than 500 people.

The organizers said that protesters followed all Covid-19 guidelines issued by the British Columbia Ministry of Health. People were wearing masks and social distancing was maintained, they said.

The seven organizations who joined the protests included Canada Tibet Committee and the Tibetan Community, Friends of Canada India Organization, Vancouver Society of Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights for China, Vancouver Hong Kong Political Activists, Vancouverites concerned about Hong Kong, Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement (VSSDM) and Vancouver Uyghur Association.