INTERNATIONAL: On Wednesday 16 March 2022, people across America gathered in protests marking one year since the deadly Atlanta spa shootings; eight people were killed, six of whom were Asian women.

The rise of violence against Asians grew worse with the scapegoating of Chinese people for the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, New York arrested a man for assaulting a 67-year-old Asian woman. He punched and stomped her over 100 times according to a security camera.

On Wednesday, a suspect was indicted for stalking and later stabbing Christina Yuna Lee to death inside her Manhattan apartment.

Due to this surge, a group in San Franciso, called themselves “Asians Are Strong,” organized self-defense classes and a global art project with the aim to support Asian women. Founder Hudson Liao says, “What we're doing today is teaching basic fundamental self-defense techniques and bystander intervention training as well. And we're going to go through concepts and scenarios that are more common to females and how to use their body and their strength to their advantage to get out of situations for them."

President Joe Biden also pledged on Wednesday to continue to reform and combat anti-Asian hate crimes and gun violence.