Vancouver's Chinatown lions defaced by racist graffiti for second time

The stone lions flanking Millennium Gate, the entrance into Vancouver's Chinatown, have been targeted again by racist graffiti, the City of Vancouver tweeted Friday afternoon.

The city said it was "extremely disheartened" by the event, and said it is working with Vancouver police to investigate the vandalism.

The lions were defaced early last week with graffitipromoting anti-Asian sentiments in connection with the novel coronavirus.

Vancouver police said last week they had investigated 29 anti-Asianhate crimes since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March including graffiti sprayed on Asian businesses, slurs directed at people of Asian descent, andincidents of harassment like shoving, punching, and tripping.

It represents an eight-fold increase in incidents compared to the same period last year.

The city has been providing the Chinatown Business Improvement Association with funding to support extra security services during the pandemic.

It sayswork has begun to remove the graffiti and they are also exploring ways of coating the lions to prevent this from happening again.