International popstar Rihanna, who recently made headlines for voicing her support to the ongoing farmers agitation in India, is now taking a stand against anti-Asian hate crimes in the US.
Over 10,000 Asian-Americans gathered in New York for a "Stop-Asian-Hate" rally.
The demonstrators on Sunday assembled at Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, and marched to City Hall Park and across the Brooklyn Bridge before ending at Cadman Plaza, reports Xinhua news agency.
Local officials, victims of hate crimes and people from various ethnic communities participated in the event.
Joining the protest was Riri who went incognito on the streets of NYC with her assistant, Tina Truong.
Tina shared moments from the protests featuring the singer, who also made posters.
Organisers of the rally urged the government to track cases and data on hate crimes, give top priority to the issue, and crack down on hate speeches and actions.
Recently, a man in New York yelled anti-Asian slurs at a 44-year-old woman and her three children, spat at her, and kicked her cellphone off a subway train.
The attack was among the latest in a national spike in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Also, near Times Square last week, a 65-year-old Filipina American woman was viciously assaulted while walking to church. A parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago was charged with assault and attempted assault as hate crimes.
Besides that, an Asian-owned convenience store in Charlotte, North Carolina, was trashed by a man who wielded a metal post and yelled racial slurs.
The incidents occurred during a time when the number of attacks involving Asian Americans is rising.
Eight people were shot and killed in Atlanta last month. Six of them were Asian-American women working in massage parlours.
Hate crimes nationally against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have increased 150% during the pandemic, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
