Safety top of mind as Vancouver gears up for Lunar New Year festival

The Vancouver Police Department says it will be deploying additional officers to Sunday’s Lunar New Year celebration in Chinatown.

There will be a “significant police presence” through the area, with the VPD saying safety is top of mind.

Sunday’s festivities are set to include a parade, which will start and end near the Chinese Cultural Centre. Each year, the event draws tens of thousands of people to the area, and the VPD is encouraging attendees to “prepare for large crowds.”

“Anytime there’s an event of this size, with so many people in the downtown area, there’s always an increased need for police services,” said VPD Superintendent Andrew Chan, adding there’s “no specific public safety risk.”

The department says officers will help with traffic enforcement, managing crowds, and be ready to respond to safety concerns should they arise.

“Maintaining public safety is our primary concern and we’re pulling out all the stops to ensure this year’s Lunar New Year parade will be a safe, fun, and family-friendly event,” added Chan.

Not only is this the year of the dragon, 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the annual spring festival parade in Chinatown.

The festival will bring road closures to the area for much of the day, with traffic impacts expected in surrounding streets.

‘Robust operational plan in place’, VPD says, as festival first big event since Chinatown stabbings

The Lunar New Year celebration is the first large-scale event to be held in the Vancouver neighbourhood since the September 2023 Light Up Chinatown festival, during which three people were stabbed.

Vancouver police say they have “a very robust operational plan in place” for Sunday. Chan says “as safe as Vancouver is,” events like what happened in September “are going to remind us that we always have to continually be on top of public safety.”

“We had really robust operational plans and safety plans in place last time, and those led to the arrest and charge of that individual within minutes of it happening,” he explained.

“For Sunday’s event, we will have specialized units, a number of police officers, and special constables in the area, and we will do our absolute best to maintain public safety throughout the event on the weekend.”