At least 20 people were spotted protesting an alleged overseas Chinese "police station" in Richmond on Friday afternoon.
The hour-long protest took place outside Wenzhou Friendship Society on Hazelbridge Way, an association embroiled in overseas Chinese "police stations" allegations, with protesters holding flags and signs with messages such as "No CCP interference in Canada."
Members of the media and Richmond RCMP were also present at the scene.
Wenzhou Friendship Society is currently being investigated under suspicion that it is one of many overseas Chinese "police stations" set up across the world. Such "police stations" are suspected to facilitate Chinese police activity and to pressure Chinese nationals.
Although the Chinese embassy had claimed that such locations were to provide services such as driver's licence renewal for overseas nationals and are not related to police activity, organizer Andrew Wagner remains skeptical.
"I don't think they're simply for renewing driver's licences and things like that, because most countries would do that at a consulate. That's a highly unusual setup for such a procedure," he said.
Wagner, who runs the Facebook group Hong Kong Defense Initiative and hosts a website for Alliance Canada-HK, told the Richmond News that he had scheduled a short protest as a "trial run" because he was unsure of the turnout, but the response to the event turned out to be "very enthusiastic."
He explained that many people were hesitant to participate due to concerns for their safety, and he implemented measures such as discouraging photography without the protesters' consent and requesting RCMP's presence.
"I wanted to establish that it was safe to do because a lot of people had concerns," said Wagner. "People ... especially Asian-Canadians are afraid of being doxxed or harassed by other counter-protesters."
The protest was Wagner's first attempt as an organizer, and the enthusiastic turnout has left him feeling optimistic about future events.
"I'm kind of collecting (people's) suggestions on potential times, and I'm collecting potential speakers who want to talk about Canadian sovereignty," he said, adding that he would like to work with other pro-democratic groups as well.
"I think if we do it again, it's likely to grow larger."
