Educators in Richmond are concerned by report of a fight between students and emergence of a letter about Hong Kong’s ‘evil’ protests
There have been disputes between students over the unrest in Hong Kong at 10 schools in the Canadian city of Richmond. The fights have led to meetings involving principals, parents and students at the schools. Richmond, a coastal city in the province of British Columbia, has the country’s largest number of ethnic Chinese people.
The meetings came after two recent incidents, both at Richmond Secondary School.
One is believed to have involved a fight between students, while the other related to an anonymous letter praising China’s Communist Party that was attached to the locker of a Grade Eight pupil who apparently supported the Hong Kong protests.
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“This letter isn’t to scare or threaten you, we just want to teach you about history and let you know the consequences,” said the lengthy letter in Chinese. It said Hongkongers were “disgraceful and cowardly”, and protest supporters “evil”.
“Don’t you realise how much love the Communist Party has given you … how can you fight against the Communist Party?” added the letter, dated November 21. Addressed to “the owner of number four locker”, the letter is signed “a Chinese person”.
A copy of the letter was sent to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by a friend of the locker’s owner, the corporation said. The same letter had been shared on Twitter days earlier by Canadian journalist Henry Lam.
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David Sadler, spokesman for the Richmond School District, said last Thursday that the two incidents involved different students. He gave no further details, but confirmed meetings were held between district staff and principals of 10 secondary schools to assess the concerns.
“Recognising that there are global tensions, the school district continues to monitor the situation closely and remain in discussion with all school administrators,” he said.
Other clashes over the Hong Kong protests had taken place between students in Richmond, as well as elsewhere in the region.