San Francisco Asians held a massive anti-discrimination march on March 27th, calling for support for equal rights for Asians. Anti-communists from mainland China and Hong Kong also called attention to the human rights issues of Hong Kong people and the racial persecution of Uyghurs, and had verbal and physical confrontations with pro-communist rallyists, reflecting the differences in political views within the marching group.
On March 27, a group of Asians held an anti-discrimination march in San Francisco. At around 11 a.m., a large number of predominantly Chinese Asians gathered in the plaza in front of San Francisco City Hall, holding signs with the words “Stop Asian Hate” and “Unity is Strength. They then marched down the street to Union Square to join another group of protesters who marched from Portsmouth Square, numbering at least a thousand.
Eason Liu of FJ in the Bay, one of the clubs that organized the event, gave reporters details of the event: “In front of the Civic Center, we had the ‘Wah Ying Club’ (Wah Ying Club), there are many Vietnamese and also ‘Hokkien in the Bay’, an event we organized together. At Garden Corner, there will be another parade organized by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. At the end we will meet together at Union Square.
Signs and banners carried by anti-communists who support Asian affirmative action. (Courtesy of Wyatt White)
Different camps clash
But when reporters arrived at the square in front of City Hall at 11 a.m., they witnessed a clash between event participants.
Several anti-communists from mainland China and Hong Kong were holding banners with the words “Stop Asian Hate”, “Free Uyghurs” and “Stop Asian Hate”, “Free Uyghurs” and “Restoration of Hong Kong, Revolution of the Times” banners in the square. Other rallyists became disgusted with the anti-communists, shouting insults and asking them to “get out”, and there were close verbal and even physical confrontations.
“Anti-Communist Wyatt Bai, the Northern California convener of the Far East Youth Freedom Coalition, was involved in the confrontation. He told us that he fully supports Asian anti-discrimination activities and participated in the Asian anti-discrimination march organized by Thai and Filipino people in San Francisco this month. At this event, he argued that members of “Hokkien in the Bay Area” have a pro-communist background and that supporters of the Chinese Communist Party‘s “genocidal regime” are tainting Asian anti-violence activism: “We are participating in a campaign to join We are participating in a campaign to fight against violence against Asians, and Hong Kong people and Uighurs are also Asians. Violence against them, I think, is also intolerable.”
A large crowd gathers in the plaza in front of San Francisco City Hall for an Asian anti-discrimination rally on March 27, 2021. (Photo by Sun Cheng, exclusive premiere)
During the clashes, some anti-communists were charged by each other. Bay Area pro-democracy activist Jinwei Hu said that when he held up a “Stop Asian Hate” sign and a “Restoration of the Hong Kong Revolution” flag, the rallyists reacted violently: “They were very upset and kept pushing me, pushing me to the street. They kept pushing me and pushed me outside the road, looking like they wanted to beat me up. But because there were police officers present, they mediated and said we could stand on the opposite side of the road.”
Another participant, Mr. Wu, said, “I held up a sign that said ‘Stop Asian Hate’ on one side and ‘CCP is real racist’ on the other. racist’, and a young man came over and tried to rip off my sign.”
The Chinese community’s position
“Ethan Liu of Fujian People in the Bay Area told the station that the reason they asked the anti-communists to leave was: “We are here mainly to ‘stop the Asian hate’ without any political overtones, just to bring people unite and let more people hear our Asian voices.”
According to public information, current Fujianese in the Bay Area president Yang Baohai and vice president Yang Xiaochuan initiated and organized a rally against the Hong Kong protests in San Francisco on Aug. 20, 2019. In a report on the event, Chinese official media Xinhua noted that participants in the rally “condemned the violent and disruptive actions of Hong Kong’s radical demonstrators” and “held Chinese flags and chanted patriotic slogans. Yang said in an interview that “the facts of what happened in Hong Kong have been distorted by the Western media.
Anti-communists and rally-goers in a close-range verbal altercation. (Photo by Sun Cheng, exclusive premiere)
Yang Baohai, in his capacity as “founder of Fujianese in the Bay Area,” was involved in planning the San Francisco premiere of the film “Me and My Motherland,” which celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding, according to China’s People’s Daily Online.
“Hong Kong, Uyghur Human Rights Also Part of Asian Affirmative Action”
For her part, Diana, an anti-communist from Hong Kong, said she attended the event to draw attention to the genocide Uyghurs are facing while demonstrating in solidarity with Asians against discrimination, and that it is part of Asian affirmative action: “Unfortunately, we were chased away when we arrived. They said we were not part of their expression of will. They made us leave the square because they had a permit to assemble (permit). We then went across the road to the curb of the city hall and continued our protest.”
The two sides confronted each other across the street for dozens of minutes, mediated by police. More than a dozen anti-communists continued to chant “Stop Genocide,” “Free Uyghurs,” and “The Chinese Communist Party is a terrorist organization,” while displaying “Stop Asian Hate” signs on the street. “Stop Genocide”, “Free Uyghurs”, “CCP is real racist” and other slogans until the pro-communist rallyists left the plaza in front of City Hall. As they took to the road for the march, there were also people pointing fingers at the anti-communists and engaging in verbal altercations with them.
No one was injured in this incident.
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