French Asians hurt by corona-related prejudice

Asian people living in France have taken to social media to complain about the way they have been treated in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Netizens have used the hashtag JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (I'm not a virus), among others, to complain about having been abused on public transport, on social media, and in the street.

The apparent increase in anti-Asian sentiment followed the central France-based newspaper Le Courier Picard using inflammatory headlines that included "Alerte jaune" (Yellow alert) and "Le peril jaune?" (Yellow peril?), the BBC reported.

The broadcaster said there have been similar reports in the United Kingdom and in other countries of an increase in anti-Asian racism.

When called out, Le Courier Picard apologized for its headlines and admitted they were examples of the "worst Asian stereotypes".

Lou Chengwang took to Twitter to tell his neighbors: "I'm Chinese, but I'm not a virus! I know everyone's scared of the virus but no prejudice, please."

And Cathy Tran used the same hashtag to describe an exchange between two men in the northeastern town of Colmar. She said she heard them say: "Watch out, a Chinese girl is coming our way."

On another occasion, she said, a man on a scooter told her to wear a face mask.

Another social media user said people should "stop asking if we're dangerous if we cough while all the people around us are doing so".

Reuters reports that customers have frequently asked Pascal Corlier, the owner of a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, whether any of his serving staff are Chinese.

"There's a sort of unfounded psychosis setting in around the Asian community and Asian food," he said, while noting that his takings are about 40 percent down on where they should be.

Laetitia Chhiv, who runs an association for young people of Chinese descent, told Reuters: "We had a student of Chinese origin in Strasbourg who was shouted at by a woman who told him not to touch the avocados she wanted to buy. That was after she asked him where he was from and whether he had the virus."

In Toronto, Canada, concerns about rising anti-Asian sentiment prompted city councilors and Chinese community leaders to call a news conference last week in order to remind residents that people of Asian descent are no more likely to have the virus than anyone else.

French-born Sun-Lay Tan, who is of Chinese and Cambodian descent, said: "Racism against Asians is spreading even faster than the virus. I was sitting on the metro on my way to work and the person next to me edged a few centimeters away and put his scarf over his mouth. I was shocked."

Corlier, the owner of the Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, said "people are panicking".

He said it is hard to hold that against them.

"But they have to take a step back... and look at the facts."

Meanwhile, several EU nations imposed increased checks at borders on incoming Chinese visitors.

Some nations, including Italy, the United States, Australia, have even banned the arrival of visitors from China and introduced a requirement on their own citizens who have visited China to be quarantined upon their return.