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Sorrow and fury among Vancouver's Filipinos after attack on festival | Sorrow and fury among Vancouver's Filipinos after attack on festival |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Hundreds of people attended the vigil on Sunday night | Hundreds of people attended the vigil on Sunday night |
Vancouver's Lapu Lapu festival, meant to be a celebration of Filipino pride, ended in a wail of sirens and screams on Saturday. | |
Eleven people - the youngest just five - died and many more were hospitalised 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," says R. J. Aquino, chairman of Filipino B.C., the organisation which put on the festival. | |
He spoke at a vigil attended by hundreds of people from across the Lower Mainland on Sunday night. | 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 adds. | |
Those who had been at the festival site all day were left with an intense feeling of shock, sorrow and fury in the aftermath of the attack. | |
Roger Peralta and Bjorn Villarreal, friends who both arrived in Canada in 2016, spent the evening listening to the music and eating the food of their homeland. | |
"Suddenly I hear this unimaginable noise," Bjorn recalls. | |
"It was a loud bang," Roger says. | |
Both men describe seeing bodies bouncing off an SUV just meters away from them. | Both men describe seeing bodies bouncing off an SUV just meters away from them. |
"I did not run away," Bjorn continues. "I actually followed the vehicle, because I felt like I could stop him. | |
"It was horrendous. A lot of people [were] just lying on the street and crying and begging for help." | |
Almost a day later, Roger is still in shock and unable to sleep as the scene replays in his mind. He says he is finding himself having to stop and cry. | |
But he also spoke of a strong Filipino spirit which he says will lift the community. | |
"We have in our culture Bayanihan," he explains, which 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." | "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." |
People have been placing candles and flowers at a makeshift memorial near the scene of Saturday's car-ramming | People have been placing candles and flowers at a makeshift memorial near the scene of Saturday's car-ramming |
The Premier of British Columbia, David Eby, has also paid tribute to the Filipino community in Canada, saying he didn'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," he said. | |
"Our long-term care homes, our hospitals, childcare, schools. This is a community that gives and gives." | |
Bjorn, who works at a hospital as a magnetic resonance imaging technologist, agrees. | |
"We are very caring people," he says. | |
Both he and Roger were furious the SUV got into the crowd in the first place. They said they felt let down by Canada. | 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. | 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 as he stood 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." | "This event does not define us and the Filipino community or that celebration." |
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