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More than 100 protesters took to the streets of Chinatown on Thursday to denounce a recent spate of attacks targeting Asian-Americans — and to ask for help.
The rally outside an East Broadway hotel slated for a homeless shelter comes after Saturday’s fatal subway shove of Michelle Go and last year’s beating death of Yao Pan Ma, who was mortally injured while collecting cans.
“We don’t know them but we know the Ma family lost a father and a husband,” Jacky Wong, a member of Concerned Citizens of East Broadway, told the crowd at the rally.
“We know the Go family lost a daughter and a sister,” Wong said. “We don’t know them but we share their pain as our own pain. We don’t know who is going to be the next victim.”
He said Chinatown already has five shelters, a local concern because of the mental health crisis among the city’s homeless and the recent attacks on Asian-Americans.
Police charged Martial Simon, a 61-year-old mentally ill homeless ex-con, with murder in Go’s shoving death at the Times Square subway station over the weekend.
“Chinatown is literally a senior town,” Wong said. “Our residents are the most vulnerable group in the city. During the pandemic, many seniors were afraid of going out of their neighborhood because they didn’t want to get harassed.
“Now they don’t even feel safe in their own neighborhood,” he added.
Asian-Americans were targeted during the coronavirus lockdown by misinformed thugs who blamed the community for the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China.
On Tuesday, hundreds gathered in Times Square to denounce Go’s death and the attacks against the Asian community, with elected officials amount those present.
In Chinatown on Thursday, protesters chanted “Asian lives matter” and “save Chinatown” in a new call for justice — and another plea for help from City Hall.
“We are very vulnerable right now,” said Concerned Citizens member Samantha Chan said. “We are scared. We are scared for ourselves and for our families and our friends.
“We feel hopeless,” she said. “We need Eric Adams. We need our mayor to do something, to fight the crime and protect us.”
Go was the latest casualty of the anti-Asian crime wave.
The 40-year-old California native was waiting to board a R train at the Times Square station when she was shoved into the path of the train and killed.
Last year, Ma, 61, was collecting cans to help his family make ends meet when was brutally attacked and repeatedly kicked in the head on April 23.
He remained in a coma and never regained consciousness. He was declared dead on Dec. 31, with charges elevated against this accused attacker, Jarrod Powell, 49.
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