Violence Again Mars Rally in Little Saigon
A man yelling pro-Communist slogans threw a bottle through a car window in Little Saigon late Sunday, shattering a daylong peaceful demonstration and triggering a violent scuffle.
Several protesters attacked the man, who remained unidentified late Sunday, punching him in the face and kicking him as he ran across Bolsa Avenue to a strip mall where some protesters held him for police.
The beating occurred as demonstrators, who numbered nearly 2,000 earlier in the day, were holding candlelight vigils protesting a store owner’s display of a Vietnamese flag and a photo of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
Protesters early Sunday covered the storefront with the yellow-and-red flag of South Vietnam and filled the day with speeches, anti-Communist songs and traditional Vietnamese New Year pageantry. Hundreds of passing motorists were stopped and given paper South Vietnamese flags.
Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis said he met with protesters Sunday morning to avoid a repeat of a clash Saturday, when 31 people were arrested.
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