Organizers of the Vancouver Chinatown Lunar New Year parade have modified course and rescinded their rejection of two progressive and LGBTQ+ teams that they beforehand barred from collaborating.
Organizing committee spokesman Frank Huang says letters have been despatched to the teams Chinatown Together and Lunar New Year For All, approving their participation in Sunday’s parade.
Huang didn’t give any causes for the reversal in a short interview in Mandarin late Friday.
In earlier letters and statements, the committee had instructed Chinatown Together that it couldn’t march due to a ban on “political activism,” whereas it rejected one other group it didn’t determine due to “the potential for disruption and protests.”
Sunday’s Spring Festival Parade in Vancouver is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and marks the 12 months of the dragon, which begins on Saturday.
Extra cops can be deployed to the parade and celebrations, however Vancouver police say there aren’t any particular public security dangers and the transfer is aimed toward managing the big crowd.
