Woman accuses Chinese couple in Montreal grocery store of being responsible for Covid
Police in Montreal were called to a supermarket and removed a woman after she insulted a Chinese-Canadian couple.
A video of the encounter captured by a victim, Ken Mak, was shared to Facebook on Monday and appeared to show the woman attacking the couple.
Mr Mak, who moved from China to Canada 20 years ago, was asked if he was Chinese and was blamed for ”21 months of bulls****”, in an apparent reference to Covid.
“All of these f****** epidemic that became a pandemic, it’s because of you Chinese people!”, the woman shouted. “F*** you”.
Mr Mak could be heard responding by saying “shame on you”, and said he hoped Canadian society would react and stop Asian hate.
“This pandemic has caused chaos in all our lives, and it is not acceptable to assault a specific minority for it,” he wrote on Facebook.
“We all have been through the lockdowns, the curfews, and the hardships in Quebec together just like everyone else. All crisis ends, but until then we need to suppprt each other, not blaming innocent people.”
In an interview with CityNews, Mr Mak said he “tried to answer” the woman “but as soon as I opened my mouth she cut me off and start the anti-Asian speech”.
“At that point I told her, ‘look, the conversation’s over and I don’t want to talk with you anymore’”.
Reports said Montreal police were eventually called to the IGA Louise Ménard on Nuns’ Island and removed the woman, who has not been named.
She claimed in the video that her family were “one of the best lawyers in Montreal”, the biggest city in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Je dénonce les propos racistes de cette dame, qui sont choquants et inacceptables. Le racisme anti-asiatique n’a pas sa place à Montréal, et ce type d’agression ne doit jamais être toléré. https://t.co/gl11IFYJk9
— Valérie Plante (@Val_Plante) January 5, 2022
Montreal mayor Valérie Plante tweeted on Wednesday: “I denounce this lady’s racist remarks, which are shocking and unacceptable. Anti-Asian racism has no place in Montreal, and this type of aggression should never be tolerated.”
CityNews reported that anti-Asian crimes in Montreal were five times higher in 2020 than the year before, following the Covid outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
