Celebrity London restaurateur tells racist Chinese Covid-19 backlash

Targeted for being Chinese: Celebrity London restaurateur whose guests have included Prince Charles, Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry tells of racist backlash over Covid-19 – and reveals his own car tyres were slashed

  • Geoff Leong, a father of three, owns Dumplings’ Legend in London’s China Town
  • He has hosted an array of stars including royalty, actors and artists 
  • The Anglo-Chinese businessman sits on the Covid Anti-Racism Group
  • He said the Chinese community had been assaulted, ostracised and shouted at
  • All four of his car tyres were slashed outside his home in Hackey, north London
  • His wife Marie-Claire had been using the car to get to work on a Covid-ward at King’s College Hospital in south London during the lockdown 
  • Mr Leong, who moved to the UK from Hong Kong when he was 10, said ‘anti China racism’ was getting worse
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

A celebrity London restaurateur whose guests include the Prince of Wales, Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry has described the shocking rise in racism against the Chinese community due to coronavirus.

Geoff Leong, 43, who owns Dumplings’ Legend in China Town, told how people had been assaulted, children ostracised at school and others spat at while they went about their lives.

And he revealed that the Metropolitan Police were investigating after all four tyres on his silver Mercedes were slashed outside his home in north London.

It means his wife Marie-Claire – an NHS doctor – now struggles to get to work on a busy Covid-19 ward during the lockdown.

Geoff Leong, whose guests include the Prince of Wales, Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry, has described the shocking rise in racism against the Chinese community due to coronavirus

The 43-year-old (pictured with Jonathan Ross), who owns Dumplings’ Legend in China Town told how people had been assaulted, children ostracised at school and others spat at while they went about their lives

Mr Leong, (with Stephen Fry above) who is on the board of the Barbican, sits on the Covid Anti-Racism Group which liaises between the police and the South East Asian community

And he revealed that the Metropolitan Police were investigating after all four tyres on his silver Mercedes were slashed outside his home in north London. It means his wife Marie-Claire – an NHS doctor – now struggles to get to work on a busy Covid-19 ward during the lockdown

Mr Leong sits on the Covid Anti-Racism Group – a committee made up of Anglo-Chinese business leaders, councillors and former police officers – which was set up this month to liaise between Scotland Yard and the South East Asian community.

He told MailOnline: ‘There has been growing anti-China racism since the pandemic took hold by people who hold China responsible for the spread of the virus.

‘One woman told us how someone pushed her off her bike and told to take her virus back to China.

‘The parents of an 11-year-old girl told us how their daughter was left out of activities at school in January and February because she “would give everyone the virus”

‘And at China Exchange we had a volunteer spat at in the street and an intern who had a man back her out of a tube train while yelling that she shouldn’t infect everyone.’

Mr Leong, a father-of-three, said he noticed the tyres had been cut when he went to drive the car with his children in Hackney, north east London, last week. 

‘It’s possible that someone living locally who knows that I am of Chinese-heritage has seen me getting in and out of the vehicle and decided to stab the car tyres as some sort of retaliation for coronavirus.

‘No other car on the street was touched, just mine. I’ve reported the matter to the police as a potential hate crime and they have been out and taken photos of the damage.’ 

The Anglo-Chinese businessman (with his doctor wife) told MailOnline: ‘There has been growing anti-China racism since the pandemic took hold by people who hold China responsible for the spread of the virus

The father-of-three, said he noticed the tyres had been cut when he went to drive the car with his children in Hackney, north east London, last week.

In a bid to shame the culprits, he plastered the car with messages reading ‘Why? Who did this to a doctor’s car, 4x wheels stabbed!’ and ‘How is my NHS doctor going to get to work today?’

In a bid to shame the culprits, he plastered the car with messages reading ‘Why? Who did this to a doctor’s car, 4x wheels stabbed!’ and ‘How is my NHS doctor going to get to work today?’

He also scrawled the word ‘WHY? on each damaged tyre.  

Mr Leong, who is also on the board of the Barbican, said his wife works in neurology but has been asked to cover in the Covid-Ward at King’s Colleg Hospital in south London to help battle the pandemic.  

‘That’s why I left all those messages over the car, I want them to know that they’ve basically hindered a doctor trying to save lives. I want the wider community to know what they’ve done.’ 

‘I’ve lived in Britain since I was 10-years-old, I was schooled here. The Chinese community have given a lot to this country, many nurses and doctors who work for the NHS have come from China or Hong Kong.

‘It is distressing for us to go through as a family. If there are people out in the community who have a grudge against me – or the Chinese community – and have done this then they need to be exposed.’     

Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said she was shocked his car had been attacked: ‘If only his car was attacked in the street – the simple question is why?

Me Leong said: ‘I’ve lived in Britain since I was 10-years-old, I was schooled here. The Chinese community have given a lot to this country, many nurses and doctors who work for the NHS have come from China or Hong Kong’

He added: ‘It is distressing for us to go through as a family. If there are people out in the community who have a grudge against me – or the Chinese community – and have done this then they need to be exposed.’ Pictured: With Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall

‘This will shock all right-minded people because we know that coronavirus is a worldwide pandemic and we have to be pulling together, which most people in Hackney are. 

‘This was a particularly unnecessary and nasty crime, which has had the added consequence of leaving a front-line health worker without her wheels.’ 

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police were called on Wednesday, 22 April to reports of criminal damage to a car.

‘The owner of the vehicle reported that the car’s tyres had been slashed. There have been no arrests at this stage.’

 

  

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