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A rainbow crosswalk near Holland Park in Surrey, B.C., was vandalized over the weekend.
It left city crews to power-wash off the spray-painted graffiti that 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy group Surrey Pride B.C. is calling an “act of hate.”
In a video posted on social media on Saturday, a group of three men are seen spray-painting black lines over the sidewalk painted with the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag colours.
In a Facebook post, Surrey Pride B.C. said it is aware of the incident.
“This is an act of hate and has been reported to the police and Mayor’s office,” said the post.
A rainbow crosswalk in Surrey was vandalized on Saturday, May 30, 2026. One of the men involved posted a video of the incident on Facebook. (Amrit Birring/Facebook)
Donald Crowe, the president of Surrey Pride, called the vandals “some radicals who don’t believe in trans children, who don’t believe in equal rights [and] who don’t believe in the justice system” in an interview.
He said the rainbow crosswalk represents that the 2SLGBTQ+ community has rights and is visible.
“It’s a violent act against the community that is a minority community in this area. And we stand tall and we will not be erased,” he said.
“All it does is make us stand higher, speak louder, and let our voices be heard.”
Charles Crowe, the president of Surrey Pride, is seen pointing to the defaced rainbow crosswalk on June 1, 2026. (Martin Diotte/CBC)
Surrey Police Service (SPS) said officers were contacted before 4 p.m. PT Saturday.
“There was a small protest taking place in the area and black paint was apparently sprayed on a Pride-themed crosswalk,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton in a statement.
Police have identified three “persons of interest,” according to Houghton.
He said SPS has notified the hate crime unit of the incident but added it is premature to determine whether it is a hate crime.
“We know who the individuals are … they know that we know who they are. And so there’s a strong likelihood that we’ll be following up with them again in the near future,” he told CBC News.
Former candidate posts video
Amrit Birring posted the video showing him and two other men spray-painting the crosswalk.
Birring is the leader of the Freedom Party of B.C. He has run for various political positions in Surrey, including for MLA in the Surrey-Newton riding in 2024.
He received 371 votes, representing 2.4 per cent of the vote, in that election.
The vandalism occurred on Saturday, police say. (Amelia John/CBC)
Another person in the video was identified as Errol Peters on social media.
Peters’ account previously discussed running as as an Independent candidate in the Richmond-Queensborough riding in the 2024 provincial election — with a man called Errol Povah doing so that year. He received 258 votes, amounting to 1.31 per cent of the vote share.
The Freedom Party, according to its website, has a platform to stop SOGI 123, provincial education resources on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The crosswalk in Surrey has been defaced before. Just 10 days after it was installed in 2018, white paint was splattered over it.