Racist protestors hurled racial slurs at the South Asian business community attendees outside the Aria Convention centre where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was to appear but was forced to cancel on Tuesday evening. Trudeau made the decision after two speakers at the event said protesters hurled racial slurs at the mostly South Asian attendees entering the banquet hall in Surrey. About four dozen protesters used expletives as they chanted against Trudeau and honked horns outside the convention centre. There was talk that Trudeau also opted out of in-person attendance due to low number of attendees who paid much less than the $1000 a person fundraiser Trudeau is used to in the South Asian community but it is not known how big the attendance of price of tickets were as media was largely not invited.

Photos by Aziz Ladha

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff With News Files

SURREY— Racist protestors hurled racial slurs at the South Asian business community attendees outside the Aria Convention centre where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was to appear but was forced to cancel on Tuesday evening.

Trudeau made the decision after two speakers at the event said protesters hurled racial slurs at the mostly South Asian attendees entering the banquet hall in Surrey.

Trudeau did not enter the building and instead spoke to the crowd for about three minutes by Zoom.

He said no one should be intimidated or stopped from exercising their democratic freedoms “because that’s what this country is all about,” reported Canadian Press.

Trudeau said he would return to see his supporters in Surrey in the future, and an organizer of the event told attendees they should feel free to stay and enjoy dinner.

There was talk that Trudeau also opted out of in-person attendance due to low number of attendees who paid much less than the $1000 a person fundraiser Trudeau is used to in the South Asian community but it is not known how big the attendance of price of tickets were as media was largely not invited.

Defence Minister Anita Anand did attend and address the crowd, but a Liberal Party staffer asked a reporter to leave the room.

About four dozen protesters used expletives as they chanted against Trudeau and honked horns outside the convention centre.

 “We don’t like the way he’s running Canada,” one man said as another spoke through a megaphone.

About half a dozen RCMP officers stood by watching the crowd.

Earlier this month, police began investigating after a video circulated on social media showed people hurling verbal abuse at NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh during a protest in Peterborough, Ont.

The federal NDP leader had dropped by the campaign office for an Ontario NDP candidate running in the provincial election.

A video shows Singh encountering protesters as he left the campaign office, and they can be heard shouting expletives at him and calling him a “traitor”‘ as he gets inside a vehicle.

Singh later told reporters he found the experience “intense, threatening (and) insulting”‘ but that he is more worried about what it means for politics in general, reported Canadian Press.

Courtesy The Canadian Press