Dear Alumni,
Please join us in giving our condolences to the families of those four people who were killed by
the NATO bombing! Among the victims were experienced and outstanding reporter, a newly-wed young
couple who just began their sweet lives.
On 1999 Mother's Day, the sky was clear and breeze was mild, most people were staying at home by
their beloved mothers, chatting and smiling. While we, the ethnic Chinese people couldn't because
we didn't have the mood. At 3:00 p.m., Chinese people of all ages were gathering by the University
Avenue in front of U.S. Consulate General in Toronto. Chinese national flags of all sizes were
waving back and forth in the wind, and amidst them was a sky-blue flag hoisting higher than all
others. On this flag JUAAC (in Chinese) was inscribed. More than 40 our alumni, including those
from Waterloo and Guelph were actively involved in this protesting gathering. By 3:30 p.m. there
were about several thousands Chinese students and people gathered there. They marched to Toronto
City Hall to participate the protesting rally co-sponsored by both Chinese communities and Serbian
communities. Over there, there was a sea of people of all ethnic backgrounds, and half of them
were Chinese. Speech after speech were aired through microphones from the stage. Our president XU
Xiangwu went up to the stage requesting a time slot from the chair persons to air his view on
behalf of JUAAC. But because there were so many pre-arranged speakers and the limited time we
could use the stage, he couldn't get his turn. People in the square were waving their flags,
chanting slogans in English, Chinese, and Serbian language all through the rally while the police
were on duty around the gathering.
By 4:00 p.m. the Chinese protesters were marching back to University Avenue. A huge China National
Flag were raised by four people at the front, followed by ten national flags on flag poles hoisted
by protesters. After that were the flags of various social organizations - Beijing Association was
first, JUAAC, with our eye-catching sky-blue flag, was the second, Henan Folks Association was the
third, and many others. We shouted slogans, we sang Chinese National Anthem, and The
Internationale. When we all got there again, we first stood by the side of the Avenue, shouting
slogans, and directed our fists and flags towards the U.S, Consulate General. There were not many
policemen at this juncture. Maybe they didn't realize we would march back here after the rally.
One young Chinese ran across the Avenue and tried to get over the metal blockades heading to the
Consulate. But he was caught and arrested by the few policemen on hand. On seeing this all
protesters were indignant, they ran all together to break the blockades. About a dozen policemen
were terrified by our heroic act and they were not prepared for this; they immediately called for
help. While all of us blocked the Avenue and some broke the blockades, back-up anti-riot police,
many of them running on foot, some on horseback, some on their motorcycles, were flooded in from
all directions. Slowly we were back near to the side of the road. At this moment those
Yugoslavian people came too shouting slogans to support us. While we were shouting the anti-NATO,
anti-U.S., and anti-bombing slogans over here, some of the organization leaders talked with the
chief of the police. In exchange, they released our heroic young man they arrested, and we were
back on the sidewalk to continue our protest.
This was a victory for us on two counts -- 1. We took on the street and broke the blockade by
surprise and they were unprepared; 2. They released the arrested young hero.
The only regret was that the organizers of the rally didn't inform all media, such as TV stations
and Newspapers. There was only one TV Station, City TV on hand to cover the event. In the evening
we saw ourselves and our flag on Cable 24 in Toronto.
Thank you for those who came to the event, and thank you for those who did the preparation work.
The Board of JUAAC