Reports that someone may have been paying actors to protest outside of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing may actually hold some water after revelations emerged from multiple sources Monday.
Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP
According to a new report from CBC, one man claims to have been paid $100 to stand outside the building with a sign. The man refused to give his name or appear on camera, and claimed that he was told he’d be appearing in a music video.
The same thing happened to Ken Bonson, who got a call from her friend with an offer to make some quick cash.
“I was told all I had to do was spare an hour of my time and hold a sign. Easy, right? I’m 20 and moved out recently, so $150 can go a long way,” she recalled Tuesday. “I had no idea what I was going into.”
Another man said he was promised $100 for the shoot and it made sense because there were a lot of cameras around. However, when journalists started asking the protesters questions, he reportedly became doubtful.
Paid to protest.
Woman from Burnaby admits she took $150 to hold sign at #MengWanzhou‘s hearing.@martinmacmahon‘s story: https://t.co/CC8q4aE3a2
— Tim James (@_TimJames) January 21, 2020
“There was all these cameras, for a long time I believed it was filming a scene where someone was coming out of a car,” the man said to Mitchell. “…Then reporters start showing up and, I don’t feel great about this anymore. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
He was part of a group of similar protesters, all of whom were holding paper signs. His read, “Equal Justice.” According to the report, other signs read “Free Ms. Meng,” “Bring Michael Home,” and “Trump Stop Bullying Us.”
The extradition trial does not aim to prove or disprove the United States’ allegations against Meng, only to determine whether — if true — the allegations meet the Canadian standard required for extradition.
The hearing is expected to last five days. The court will focus on the “double criminality” test — for Meng to be extradited, the allegations against her must be considered crimes in both the US and Canada. If the judge rules that the double criminality requirement is not met, Meng will be released.
