Toronto police probe online abuse of Tibetan-Canadian student leader accused of offending China

[Anonymous]

This is disturbing..



And it's fuel for Chinese conspiracy theorists.



Incidents at Ontario universities this month have raised the spectre of Chinese government interference on Canadian campuses



The torrent of abuse Chinese students and others directed at a Tibetan-Canadian student leader in Toronto has now become a police matter.



Detectives have begun investigating whether some of the thousands of angry online texts Chemi Lhamo received after being elected as a University of Toronto student-union president constitute criminal threats, Toronto police confirmed Wednesday.



The Internet barrage — and a petition signed by 11,000 people demanding Lhamo be removed from the position — was one of two incidents at Ontario universities this month that have raised the spectre of Chinese government interference on Canadian campuses.



Muslim and Tibetan student groups have called on the federal government to investigate whether such incursions did occur. China's embassy in Ottawa has denied playing a part in either episode.



Meanwhile, Lhamo said university police have asked her to develop a safety plan in the wake of the online deluge, which would include letting them know where she is on campus hour by hour.



Lhamo, 22, is a Canadian citizen of Tibetan descent who immigrated from India with her family 11 years ago. She was elected as president of the student union at the U of T's Scarborough campus in early February. Though she is an advocate for Tibetan independence, she did not campaign on that issue and says she has no plans to make it part of her role as president.



But in the wake of her election, thousands of messages flooded her Instagram account, often crudely abusive and accusing her of being disloyal to China, a country where she has never lived.



The change.org petition — digitally signed almost entirely by people with Chinese names — suggested that her devotion to the Tibetan cause is "irrational" and an affront to international students at the university.



Beijing sees the movement for a free Tibet as a major threat; along with advocacy for the Uyghur minority, Taiwan, democracy in China and the Falun Gong sect, it is one of what the Chinese Communist party sometimes calls the "five poisons."



The other incident occurred at McMaster University in Hamilton, where five Chinese student groups protested the university's decision to allow a talk by Rukiye Turdush, a Canadian citizen of Uyghur background. Turdush discussed human-rights abuses against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group in China whose persecution has been well documented by Western media and human-rights organizations.



A statement posted by the Chinese students said the talk incited anti-China hatred, and mentioned they had notified their home country's consulate in Toronto.

https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-police-probe-online-abuse-of-tibetan-canadian-student-leader-accused-of-offending-china">https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-p ... ding-china">https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-police-probe-online-abuse-of-tibetan-canadian-student-leader-accused-of-offending-china



https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/chemi-lhamo-1.png?w=780">

[Bricktop]

Communist Chinese are big mouthed bullies that need to be reminded that no-one cares what they say or think...including their rulers in Beijing.

[Anonymous]

Communist Chinese are big mouthed bullies that need to be reminded that no-one cares what they say or think...including their rulers in Beijing.

Our prime minister said he admires their basic dictatorship.

[Anonymous]

This is disturbing..



And it's fuel for Chinese conspiracy theorists.



Incidents at Ontario universities this month have raised the spectre of Chinese government interference on Canadian campuses



The torrent of abuse Chinese students and others directed at a Tibetan-Canadian student leader in Toronto has now become a police matter.



Detectives have begun investigating whether some of the thousands of angry online texts Chemi Lhamo received after being elected as a University of Toronto student-union president constitute criminal threats, Toronto police confirmed Wednesday.



The Internet barrage — and a petition signed by 11,000 people demanding Lhamo be removed from the position — was one of two incidents at Ontario universities this month that have raised the spectre of Chinese government interference on Canadian campuses.



Muslim and Tibetan student groups have called on the federal government to investigate whether such incursions did occur. China's embassy in Ottawa has denied playing a part in either episode.



Meanwhile, Lhamo said university police have asked her to develop a safety plan in the wake of the online deluge, which would include letting them know where she is on campus hour by hour.



Lhamo, 22, is a Canadian citizen of Tibetan descent who immigrated from India with her family 11 years ago. She was elected as president of the student union at the U of T's Scarborough campus in early February. Though she is an advocate for Tibetan independence, she did not campaign on that issue and says she has no plans to make it part of her role as president.



But in the wake of her election, thousands of messages flooded her Instagram account, often crudely abusive and accusing her of being disloyal to China, a country where she has never lived.



The change.org petition — digitally signed almost entirely by people with Chinese names — suggested that her devotion to the Tibetan cause is "irrational" and an affront to international students at the university.



Beijing sees the movement for a free Tibet as a major threat; along with advocacy for the Uyghur minority, Taiwan, democracy in China and the Falun Gong sect, it is one of what the Chinese Communist party sometimes calls the "five poisons."



The other incident occurred at McMaster University in Hamilton, where five Chinese student groups protested the university's decision to allow a talk by Rukiye Turdush, a Canadian citizen of Uyghur background. Turdush discussed human-rights abuses against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group in China whose persecution has been well documented by Western media and human-rights organizations.



A statement posted by the Chinese students said the talk incited anti-China hatred, and mentioned they had notified their home country's consulate in Toronto.

https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-police-probe-online-abuse-of-tibetan-canadian-student-leader-accused-of-offending-china">https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-p ... ding-china">https://nationalpost.com/news/toronto-police-probe-online-abuse-of-tibetan-canadian-student-leader-accused-of-offending-china



https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/chemi-lhamo-1.png?w=780">

It's still legal to support Tibetan, Taiwanese, Chechen, Catalonian, Scottish or Quebecois independence in Canada. If foreign students can't respect that, than they should look for another country to continue their higher education.

[Anonymous]

I can't say if Peking is behind this or they are just ardent nationalists who hate free speech.

[Bricktop]

Canadian nationalists, or Chinese?