PHOTOS: ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally

Around 300 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the corner of Forbes and Oakland avenues for a “Stop Asian Hate” rally. The crowd chanted “No hate! No fear! Asian people are welcome here!” as a sign of solidarity to Pittsburgh’s Asian community.

[Read: Pittsburghers denounce anti-Asian violence at Oakland rally]

The rally — organized by Thrash the State, a Pittsburgh advocacy group — comes in the wake of a Tuesday mass shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta. Six of the eight people killed in the shootings were women of Asian descent. Crowds gathered across the country on Saturday to protest anti-Asian violence and remember the lives lost in Atlanta.

This shooting is the latest anti-Asian attack in recent months, which have increased dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate, an organization which records incidents of violence and harassment that target Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, reported nearly 3,800 incidents from last March to this past February.