Police said to be probing hate crime in attack on Shen Yun tour bus

By Jason Loftus 17/01/10

A bus driver for the Shen Yun performing arts company discovered slashes on a front tire that could have led to a serious accident, he said Saturday from Montreal. The company had just performed the first of four shows before a full house at Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall in Place des Arts.

Shen Yun performers pose for a photo on the steps of Parliament Hill in Ottawa

Driver Mr. Liang discovered a mark on the sidewall of his bus's front-right tire Tuesday morning during a routine safety inspection outside the downtown Ottawa hotel where the Shen Yun performers were staying following three shows at the National Arts Centre. The bus carries about 50 dancers and musicians between cities on Shen Yun's tour.

Mr. Liang said he did not realize that the two-inch mark he found on the tire's sidewall was the result of a blade, but he decided to bring the vehicle in for inspection after completing the 200-km drive to Montreal the next day.

When he brought the bus to Motor Coach International in Montreal on Wednesday, service personnel discovered beneath the snow and dirt on the same tire was a second, larger cut of at least four inches.

"They told me these were blade cuts and that this was dangerous," Liang said. "They said because it's a front tire it's very critical. If the tire bursts, the bus will lose control."

If a tire is slashed all the way through, the tire goes flat and the vehicle can't move, and injuries to people are unlikely. However, If a tire is carefully slashed through only some layers of the rubber, people can get seriously hurt because the tire may blow while the vehicle is moving.

MCI replaced the tire, Liang says.

On Saturday morning, local organizers reported the incident to Ottawa police. An organizer said Saturday that police had told her the case would be passed on to the hate crimes unit for investigation.

The Epoch Times was unable to reach a spokesperson for the Ottawa Police on Saturday afternoon.

Shen Yun is billed as the world's premier Chinese dance and music company, with shows gracing the stages of many of the world's top theatres in over 100 cities. The company promises a renaissance of traditional Chinese arts including classical Chinese dance, ethnic, and folk dance depicting China's various eras and ethnicities.

But the New York-based company is independent from the Chinese regime and has angered Beijing with some performances, including a dramatization that depicted the resolve of a Falun Gong practitioner facing persecution by Chinese authorities.

In 2007, the Chinese embassy urged Canadians not to attend the show, which was then called the Chinese New Year Spectacular, and warned Canadian officials not to show support.

Yet the tour has instead expanded in Canada, playing to sell-out crowds and full houses in Waterloo, Ottawa, and Montreal so far this month, with Hamilton and Mississauga to follow. It will perform in 10 Canadian cities this year.

Phone calls to the Chinese embassy on Saturday were not answered.

Mr. Liang says it's the second time his bus has faced such an attack. Last year, en route from Phoenix to California, a tire burst. When Mr. Liang brought the bus into a service centre, staff there found that a drill had been used to bore a hole through half of the tire's depth. Liang says that case was less worrisome because it was rear wheel, whereas this time it was a front tire.

"As a bus driver, we all know that the front wheel is the most important. If one bursts while at high speed, it's almost impossible to control the bus."