Raptors fans to give away thousands of pro-Hong Kong T-shirts for home opener

As tensions soar in the NBA over the issue of Hong Kong and China, some Toronto Raptors fans are giving away pro-Hong Kong T-shirts for their opening game.

This tweet from HK World City confirms:

A group of basketball fans who support Hong Kong’s protests for democracy, raised more than $34,000 to give t-shirts to people attending the first Raptors’ game.

“As you may know by now, China is trying to censor the entire NBA because Houston Rockets’ General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted a ‘Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong’ photo to support Hong Kong,” reads the GoFundMe page in support of this endeavour.

“For those who didn’t follow what is going on, you might ask ‘why?’ It all started with a proposed amendment on an extradition law that would jeopardize the autonomy of Hong Kong and Hongkongers don’t like it.”

As of the time of the writing of this article, donations have been disabled by the organizers.

“Canada is actually another battleground to fight against China. In Canada, Pro-Beijing nationalists gathered to disrupt Pro-Democracy events across the country. In addition to deep-rooted historical ties, there are 300,000 Canadians currently working and living in Hong Kong. Canada and Hong Kong share universal values such as the rule of law, individual freedoms and human rights,” the page adds.

The shirts are expected to fill up a third of the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

The Raptors have not officially endorsed this, and are not involved with any political movement.