Burning of PH flag in Montreal seen as possible hate crime

The Philippine flag was burned but the flags of Canada and Quebec were left untouched. PH Embassy

MONTREAL, Quebec – Police are looking at the desecration of a Philippine flag at a Filipino community center in a Montreal neighborhood as a possible anti-Asian hate crime.

The flag of the Philippines flag in front of the Filipino Association of Montreal and Suburbs (FAMAS) headquarters in Côte des Neiges was pulled down and burned Saturday night, Sept. 11, Snowdon councilor Marvin Rotrand told The Suburban. He said that the Filipino community is “traumatized.”

The perpetrator(s) left the Canadian and Quebec flags untouched on the flagpoles. This “gives us the impression that whoever did this — we can be wrong — I don’t think we can be blamed if we assume that whoever did this has some hatred for our community. We are suspecting it is a hate crime,”Joseph Gonzales, vice-president External of FAMAS, stated.