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Benjamin Howes, a spokesman in Huawei’s international media affairs department, says in an email the company had no involvement with the protesters or supporters outside the courthouse.

The arrest of Meng in Vancouver in 2018 and the U.S. extradition request has severely strained Canada-China relations.

Protesters have periodically gathered outside the B.C. Supreme Court for hearings leading up to the start of Meng’s extradition hearing this week.

Some have spoken out against the Chinese government, while others have held signs calling for the Huawei executive’s released.

On Monday, Hackstaff was among half a dozen who carried red signs that read “Free Ms. Meng,” and “Equal Justice.”

She said it began with an offer on Facebook Sunday night from an acquaintance who said Hackstaff would be paid $100 for a two-hour gig. Hackstaff said she believes the man, whom she declined to name, was also duped into taking part.

It’s common for these offers to come in at the last minute so it didn’t seem unusual, Hackstaff said.

She was given an address, then redirected to a hotel lobby and when she finally arrived at the courthouse, she saw dozens of people already gathered and thought she must be late.

It’s not unusual for independent television and film productions to involve only one or two cameras, so she didn’t question yet whether the production was real.

She identified a group of confused looking 20-somethings as her fellow extras, one of them confirmed, and she was handed a sign.

“I was barely beginning to read the signs and trying to understand the material and a reporter approached me,” she said. “It was very surreal at that moment.”

She doesn’t know who was behind the job offer.

“I wish I’d said no,” she said.

“I can’t speak for all the people at the protest, I don’t know any of them. But it is unfair that someone who thinks they’re going to do an honest job got tricked into a scam.”