People who thought they had been hired as extras on the set of a film found themselves in the middle of a real demonstration in Vancouver (Canada), they told the media.
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A dozen men and women held signs outside a court on Monday in support of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei, who is challenging her extradition proceedings to the United States. “Free Meng, Fair Justice!” read one sign. “Trump stop harassing us”, proclaimed another.
Some were found by Canadian journalists and explained that they had been paid between 100 and 150 Canadian dollars (69 and 103 euros) for two hours on what they thought was a film set. They had been approached on Facebook or by acquaintances.
"A CBC reporter approached me and my friend and she started interviewing us. And that's when, with her questions, I started realizing: OK, if it's It's extra work, they wouldn't need details about the extras," protester Julia Hackstaff told public broadcaster CBC. When other journalists questioned her, she said she understood that she had been fooled: "I began to realize that no one had said: action!".
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Another protester, Ken Bonson, gave a similar account to the Toronto Star: 'Honestly I'm kind of ashamed and embarrassed,' she said, explaining that she had never heard of the case of the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou.
One question remained unanswered: who hired these "extras"? The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to requests on Wednesday. The Huawei group said it had "no relation to the protesters" and was "not informed" of the names of the organizers of the demonstration.
