Year in Review – October:
It started in July with a peaceful protest at Brighouse Canada Line station and people writing messages of support on yellow sticky notes for Hong Kong on a “Lennon Wall.”
A few months later, however, in October, the discourse between pro-Hong Kong and pro-China members of the Richmond community turned ugly.
An altercation was captured on video, underneath Aberdeen Canada Line station, centring again around a Lennon Wall, with a group of Mandarin-speaking people — apparently pro-China — filmed tearing down the sticky notes and posters.
Pushing and shoving and threats of violence were exchanged and the police were eventually called.
Just three days later, at the same location, hundreds of pro-Hong Kong supporters turned out to create and even bigger Lennon Wall, with only minor trouble this time.
And in December, the same tensions surfaced in a Richmond school, where a letter was posted on the locker of a pro-Hong Kong supporter, praising the Chinese communist party and purporting to give the locker owner a “history lesson.”
The letter asked why the student, who had a slogan in support of the Hong Kong protestors on his locker, would “humiliate the communist party,” according to a translation by the Richmond News.
“The purpose of this letter isn’t to frighten you or intimidate you, we just want to give you a history lesson and let you know all the consequences,” the letter stated.
