A 77-day protest outside a Surrey home ends with a $275,000 defamation award

Floyd Brenz., Philippine Canadian Inquirer
September 14, 2026

Photo Courtesy: CBC News

CANADA – What began as a protest outside a Surrey journalist’s home in 2020 has ended with a $275,000 defamation award, after a British Columbia Supreme Court judge found that false and damaging accusations were repeatedly published against him.

Justice Richard Hewson ruled that Yun Fei Zhu was liable for defamatory statements made during livestreamed protests targeting journalist Bing Chen Gao. The demonstrations continued for 77 days, from September 15 to December 1, 2020, with crowds gathering outside Gao’s home for hours each day.

The protests were tied to supporters of Chinese businessman and political activist Guo Wenghui, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party. Gao, who had also criticized the CCP and was involved in China’s pro-democracy movement before moving to Canada, had become an outspoken critic of Guo and his political movement.

That disagreement spilled into Gao’s neighbourhood. Protesters accused him of being a CCP spy and a professional agent, distributed pamphlets containing his home address and livestreamed demonstrations in which participants repeatedly insulted him.

The court heard that crowds ranged from about 10 to 60 people, while livestreams reached an online audience. Gao said the protests affected not only him but also his wife, young daughter and elderly mother-in-law.

The demonstrations resurfaced in January 2023, when protesters again gathered outside his home and livestreamed their activities.

Hewson ultimately found Zhu responsible for defamatory comments made by him and others during the livestreams he published. The court awarded Gao $250,000 in general damages and $25,000 in aggravated damages, while also ordering Zhu to pay $5,000 in court costs.

The judge further issued an injunction barring Zhu from repeating the defamatory statements.

The case shows how a political dispute that began with opposing views about China and the Chinese Communist Party moved far beyond the internet and into a residential neighbourhood, eventually ending not with another protest, but with a court ruling and a substantial price for the words broadcast to the public.