COVID-19 Triggers Outbreak Of Racism Against Asians In Canada

Ilustrasi foto (Markus Spiske / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Vancouver Police (VPD) have asked Canadians to help them identify a perpetrator of the beating of a young woman of Asian descent on Tuesday, May 5. This was deliberately revealed by the police to investigate the true motives of the perpetrators in the series of racism cases against Asians after the outbreak of COVID-19.

The incident allegedly occurred in downtown Vancouver, 12 April. In the shared video, a man is seen walking straight towards his victim and releasing a punch which sends the woman crashing onto the pavement.

Reported by the South China Morning Post, the police are still aware of the motive for the attack. However, they think that from the existing video, it seems that the perpetrator was not provoked by other people. "We are investigating this as an attack by foreigners and the motive is unknown," said Vancouver Police spokesman Sgt. Aaron Roed.

"The suspect approached the victim at a bus stop near Granville and West Pender Streets, punched him in the face and then fled on the bus. The attack did not appear to have been provoked because there was no communication between the victim and the attacker," he added.

Roed also said that the 22-year-old victim had improved emotionally after the beating incident. In fact, Roed guaranteed that the police would still be present for the victims until the matter was completely resolved.

Moreover, the police have declared a surge in crimes of racism against those with Asian roots in Vancouver during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in this year alone the police have received 20 reports of cases of such crimes. Compared to 2019, the number of crimes due to racism was only 12 cases.

Even so, the police did not dare to speculate on the motive for the attack which they considered disgusting, for attacking innocent people.

Another attack

Before the Vancouver Police asked Canadians to identify the perpetrator of the assault on a young Asian woman, a similar request was echoed by the police in identifying another man who attacked a 92-year-old dementia sufferer surnamed Kwong.

Not only that, the man also threw racist slurs about COVID-19 at Kwong. For the attack, Kwong was immediately evicted from the 7-Eleven store in East Vancouver. Fortunately, a suspect could be identified in less than 24 hours on Thursday, April 23. As a result, the police were able to immediately initiate an investigation.

Then, on Friday, police also asked Canadians to help identify a masked man who broke a window in Vancouver's Chinatown. In fact, it was not only damaging, the man also scratched a hatred on Thursday, April 2.

Regarding the incident, Vancouver Police Officer Constable Tania Visintin described it as a sad incident. "It is sad to report that this type of crime is ongoing during the pandemic. Our Department is taking such hate crime very seriously. We will not tolerate this in our city."