Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday in downtown Vancouver with signs asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to apologize for how he dealt with what’s being called the “hijab hoax” incident.
Protesters were holding signs such as “Trudeau do not split Canadians”, “Trudeau apologize”, “all Canadians are equal” and “we will vote” in front of Vancouver Art Gallery.
The so-called “hijab hoax” happened last month, when an 11-year-old girl accused somebody of trying to cut her hijab. At the time, reports said Toronto police were seeking an Asian suspect in his 20s.
Trudeau spoke out on Twitter, saying “incidents like this cannot be tolerated.” However, Toronto Police later reported “the incident did not happen”
Related Article: “Someone assaulted me by cutting my hijab two times” did not happen
Many of the protesters are Asian Canadians and said Trudeau failed to stand up for Asians in his response to the incident that it never happened.
“This is fake news, but I don’t understand how it got reported by multiple media outlets within 45 minutes after it happened,” one protester identified herself as Lee told Dushi Bao.
“We want Justin Trudeau to apologize, as he made a biased speech before police investigation in regards to this incident.”
Another protester Yang Wang said the incident happened at the block where mainly Asians reside, “that’s why Asian people feel hurt the most and we don’t want to have fake hate in between different minorities.”
“We also had another protests Jan. 20 in Vancouver and Toronto, but it is frustrating that most mainstream media did not report on this, which is unacceptable for us,” said Tanya Gaw, another protester.
—With files from Dushi Bao.
People also flooded Trudeau’s twitter with 3500 comments, among them many asked him to apologize.
#HijabHoax Canadians deserve at least a apologize from the family otherwise this episode will be setting precedent due its sense of impunity.As Canadians we embrance multiculturalism but we don't deserve to be taken advantage of. Respect goes both way. @TorontoPolice @tdsb @CP24
— ffag (@Anaffag74) January 16, 2018
So 11yr olds lie? Apologies need to come from the School board, journalists & media, muslim advocacy groups & POLITICIANS who so uncritically jumped on this story because they SO WANTED it to be true. It fitted their narrative & allowed them to virtue signal. Apologise now
— Mike Cernovich's whisp (@s_whisp) January 29, 2018
Honestly You own all Chinese people an sincere apology! You stand for Muslim based on FAKE news!!!
— Andy Lian (@Andy_lianNC) January 26, 2018
After finding out this is a hoax, you still haven’t deleted this tweet? Wow
— A (@adamm_gomes) January 15, 2018
All Canadian deserve apology, especialy the Asian people. 特鲁多先生你欠所有加拿大人一个道歉，尤其是亚裔。在这起诬告事件中，你并没有保持冷静客观和中立的态度来等待真相，而是急匆匆站队。严重伤害了亚裔的感情并造成了很恶劣的影响。亚裔民众要求你道歉!
— 来栖加奈子 (@kurusukanako) January 17, 2018
Since the 'assault' on the 11 year old #Muslim girl claiming someone cut her #Hijab twice is a HOAX, what do you gotta say now?? YOU helped spread FAKE #Islamophobia! We KNOW "it did not happen" When did filing FALSE #HateCrime become ok?? #anonymous #MAGA https://t.co/B4HlZsjYWY
— Anonymous (@exposes_racism) January 16, 2018
Why are you keeping silent about the investigation? @JustinTrudeau
— Thomas Mi (@MediaBusy) January 23, 2018
Retract this and apologize to Canadians! You are an embarrassment to our country! #FoolOnTheHill #hm
— Anna (@anna_938) January 21, 2018
You are just another politician that seeks for only politically right instead of cold hard fact? Am I Right or Wrong? Apologizes are definitely needed!
— J's (@jJJwww520) January 20, 2018
Blamed Asian in the first place. Then pretend nothing happened. It seems like this is the real “democracy” and “liberty”.
— Richard Liang (@LjhRichard) January 18, 2018
The truth needs to come out. And an apology to Canadians. Prime Minister, shouldn't you do another tweet now to address the fact that this is a hoax? What exactly happened and why it happened this way should be investigated thoroughly.
— Pieceodcake (@pieceodcake) January 18, 2018
How can a state leader make such hasty remarks even before the police get the hard evidence? How can our long-cherished multiculturalism continue to be promoted in this great country in the future? Please don't forget the core values of Canada.
— Catherine (@mayitbe66) January 17, 2018
We are still waiting for your apology to be issued to the Asian Community and all students and parents that felt unsafe due to the lies told #JustinTrudeau
— Native Kitten (@nativekittens) January 17, 2018
You owe an official apology to ALL Asians in this country. You cannot protect one ethnic group by stepping on another one; this action is intolerant for a PM. Please apologize.
— Connie Cai (@KonniKai) January 17, 2018
