Vancouver's Chinese Cultural Centre defaced with 'hateful' graffiti: police

Vancouver police are asking for help in identifying a male suspect after someone defaced several large windows of theChinese Cultural Centre with what officers called "hateful"graffiti.

The suspect walked into the courtyard of the centre on Columbia Street on April 2 and wrote"disturbing, racist remarks toward the Asian community on four large glass windows," according to a release Friday.

Const.Tania Visintinsaid incidents like this are happening more often in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. She described them as "disheartening."

"Our department takes crimes with such hate attached extremely seriously," she said. "We will not tolerate this in our city."

The suspect is described as white with a thin build and wearinga black jacket, black pants and grey running shoes.

Police say he wasalso wearing a black baseball cap with writing on the front and had a black and white bandana covering his nose and mouth.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact investigators at 604-717-2773 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

Rise in anti-Asian incidents, crimes

Chinese Cultural Centre board chair Fred Kwok said the anti-Chinese remarksare disturbing, especially because they were written on the centre's windows.

"The Chinese Cultural Centre is more like an icon in Chinatown. They put it here for a purpose," he said. "The reason they write all this on it is to put fear into people's hearts, into people's minds."

Vancouver police say there has been an increase in reports of "anti-Asian hate-motivated incidents and criminal acts."

Fifteen crimes involving hate were reported to police in April;11 of those were anti-Asian.

Since the start of the year there have been 20 anti-Asian hate crimes reported to police. Officers say there were 12 total in 2019.

Please speak out: MP Jenny Kwan

The NDP critic for immigration, MPJenny Kwan, is asking victims of hate crimes or racism to report them so that authorities and the province get a better understanding of the scope of the problem.

She said in a news release she warned the province in February that people would blame the pandemic on Asian-Canadians.

"The government needs to fight the disease," she said. "They also need to address the rising racism people are experiencing."

On Thursday, Premier John Horgan said over social media that racially-motivated crimes in the province are "unacceptable."

He asked for people in B.C. to stand up against racism and hate.