Sorrow and fury among Vancouver's Filipinos after attack on festival
VANCOUVER, Canada — Vancouver's Lapu Lapu festival, meant to be a celebration of Filipino pride, ended in a wail of sirens and screams.
Eleven people died and many more were hospitalized after a man drove an SUV through the crowd.
"A lot of us are still numb. A lot of us are still angry, confused, sad, devastated — and some of us don't know how to feel, what to feel," said R.J. Aquino, chairman of Filipino B.C., the organization that put on the festival.
He spoke at a vigil attended by hundreds of people from across the Lower Mainland on Sunday night.
"Honestly, I'm kind of all of the above right now," he added.
That was the sense I got from talking to people in the neighbourhood around the festival site all day: an intense mix of shock, sorrow and fury.Take two Filipino friends I met on the street where it happened, Roger Peralta and Bjorn Villaruel.They both arrived in Canada in 2016 and were having a fabulous evening at the festival, listening to the music and eating the food of their homeland."Suddenly I hear this unimaginable noise," Bjorn said."It was a loud bang," Roger said.Both men describe seeing bodies bouncing off an SUV just meters away from them."I did not run away," Bjorn said. "I actually followed the vehicle, because I felt like I could stop him."It was horrendous. A lot of people are just lying on the street and crying and begging for help."Almost a day later, Roger said he had not been able to sleep and was in shock, seeing flashes of horror in his mind over and over and finding himself having to stop and cry.But he also talked of a strong Filipino spirit that he said will lift the community."We have in our culture Bayanihan," he said. It translates as a spirit of unity and cooperation among Filipinos."When you meet another Filipino, even if you don't know them, you greet them, you feel like they're family, even if you're not."The Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, paid tribute to the Filipino community."I don't think there's a British Columbian who hasn't been touched in some way by the Filipino community."You can't go to a place that delivers care in our province and not meet a member of that community."Our long-term care homes, our hospitals, child care, schools. This is a community that gives and gives."Bjorn, who works at a hospital as a magnetic resonance imaging technologist, agreed."We are very caring people," he said.Both he and Roger were furious the SUV got into the crowd in the first place. They said they felt let down by Canada.Premier Eby said he feels that rage too."But I want to turn the rage that I feel into ensuring that we stand with the Filipino community," he said in front of a police cruiser blocking access to the crime scene."This event does not define us and the Filipino community or that celebration." — BBC
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison
An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said. Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey. In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison. She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship 'for prestige and profit' and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was 'someone to be admired.' 'You knew about Ahmad's suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.' The Met's investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies. 'This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence. Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad's assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.
Arab News
16 hours ago
- Arab News
Israeli army admits to Gaza strike
DUBAI: The Israeli military has admitted to the BBC that it conducted a strike on the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, which reportedly killed at least one Palestinian and injured 30 others. The attack took place on Sunday, soon after an incident near a new aid distribution center in Rafah. BBC's fact-checking unit, Verify, was analyzing footage of the Rafah incident when it identified a separate strike in nearby Khan Younis. Initially thought to be linked to the Rafah incident, BBC Verify geolocated the footage to Khan Younis, 4.5 km from the aid distribution site. The Khan Younis blast had not been announced by the IDF, which regularly publishes operational updates online. When BBC Verify approached the Israeli military, it admitted it had carried out an artillery strike and said the incident was the result of 'technical and operational errors.' Troops had fired toward a specific target but the artillery deviated and 'wrongfully hit the Mawasi area' in Khan Younis, the military said, without providing any evidence to support its claims. The blast took place in an area where displaced Palestinians had been sheltering. The footage showed bloodied bodies surrounded by dust clouds, BBC said. Women and children could be seen running and screaming as they watched injured people being carried away. The broadcaster emphasized the rarity of the Israeli military acknowledging errors. BBC Verify's analysis of its official Telegram account identified four previous instances where it admitted to mistakes or technical and operational errors related to the war in Gaza.
Arab News
17 hours ago
- Arab News
A British TV art expert who sold works to a suspected Hezbollah financier is sentenced to prison
Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal CourtLONDON: An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship 'for prestige and profit' and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was 'someone to be admired.''You knew about Ahmad's suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him,' she said. 'This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.'The Met's investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies.'This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad's assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.
