Free Meng Wanzhou and send $$$ for nudez: the weird world of Vancouver’s unlikely anti-extradition activists
- Some protesters said they were paid to take part in what they were told was a music video or professional film shoot outside the BC Supreme Court
One encourages people on her social media profile to “send $$$ 4 nudez”. Others include a professional actress, a Vancouver artist and a young man whose fondness for starring in pornographic selfies had made his Twitter feed decidedly NSFW.
What united them all on Monday was an apparent devotion to the cause of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, in her bid to avoid extradition to the United States on fraud charges.
They and a couple dozen others stood outside the BC Supreme Court on the first day of Meng’s extradition hearing in Vancouver, holding signs demanding “Justice For Ms Meng” and other slogans. They appeared in the background of reports by Chinese state broadcasters CCTV and CGTN, and other media.
But the artifice would soon begin to dissolve under the faintest sprinkling of inquiry.
I spoke to one young man, holding a “Free Ms Meng Equal Justice” sign, identical in wording and handwriting to others held by fellow protesters.
Demonstrators outside the court complex on days when Meng has appeared have been common since her December 1, 2018, arrest at Vancouver’s international airport.
