Vancouver Police say they will send additional officers to Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown on Sunday.
Local police say there will be a “large police presence” and safety is their top priority.
Sunday’s festivities are expected to include a parade, starting and ending near the Chinese Cultural Center. The event draws tens of thousands of people to the area each year, but VPD encourages participants to “prepare for large crowds.”
Deputy Police Superintendent Andrew Chan said: “Whenever you have an event of this magnitude and you have so many people in a busy area, there is always an increased need for police services.” There is no safety risk.”
The department said its officers will assist with traffic enforcement and crowd control, and are ready to respond if safety concerns arise.
“Maintaining public safety is our top concern and we are doing everything we can to ensure this year’s Lunar New Year Parade is a safe, fun, and family-friendly event,” Chan added.
Not only is this the Year of the Dragon, but 2023 also marks the 50th anniversary of Chinatown’s annual Spring Festival Parade.
Due to the festival, surrounding roads will be closed for most of the day, and traffic impacts on surrounding roads are expected.
VPD says “robust management plan in place” for first large-scale festival event since Chinatown stabbing incident
The Lunar New Year celebration is the first large-scale event to be held in the Vancouver area since the Light Up Chinatown Festival in September 2023. 3 people were stabbed.
Vancouver police said they have “a very strong operational plan in place” for Sunday. “Vancouver is as safe as it is safe,” Chan said, adding that events like what happened in September “remind us that we must always ensure public safety at all times.” I guess so,” he said.
“Last time, we had a very solid operational and security plan that led to the arrest and indictment of the individual within minutes of the incident,” he explained.
“Sunday’s event will see specialist units, a number of police officers and special constables in the area and we will do everything in our power to maintain public safety during the weekend’s event.”