Flag Protest Draws Hundreds to Little Saigon

Fearing an outbreak of violence, 200 police officers in riot gear faced hundreds of demonstrators Monday at a protest in Little Saigon over a merchant’s intention to hang the Vietnamese flag and a photograph of Ho Chi Minh in his store window.

The protest by more than 500 on the eve of Tet, the Lunar New Year celebration, took place without the presence of store owner Truong Van Tran. Police had urged him not to come to the Bolsa Avenue shopping center, citing the risks.

The crowd ignored repeated orders by Westminster police to disperse after officials proclaimed the gathering an illegal assembly. As the crowd grew, the show of police force increased. But by afternoon, law enforcement officials and community leaders had defused the situation.

After police assured demonstrators that Tran was not coming, the crowd agreed to move to another part of the shopping center, out of traffic and pedestrian lanes.

“We told [Tran] that it was a situation with a clear and present danger, not just to him but to the community as well,” Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis said. “A bunch of people could have gotten hurt.”

It was not clear what Tran’s plans were for today.

The merchant had said last week on a local Vietnamese radio broadcast that he would hang the display Monday. That raised police concern that violence might break out.

Monday’s police presence was the largest since the dispute between Tran and the community began a month ago. Officers from Westminster as well as Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department assembled, many wearing flak jackets and carrying batons.

“The officers were there to prevent a riot,” Westminster Police Lt. Mike Schliskey said.

Three men were arrested when they refused to leave, but that did not deter others, many of them teenagers, who gathered in front of Hi-Tek Video on Bolsa Avenue.

“I’m not scared,” said Long Phan, 16, who sat with other demonstrators in front of police. “They can kill me if they want. I’m not moving.”

No injuries or property damage were reported.

The situation began in January when Tran hung Ho’s picture and the Vietnamese flag in the window of his shop. That stirred the anti-communist passions of Vietnamese expatriates and touched off protests and demonstrations.

An Orange County Superior Court judge ordered Tran to remove the offending symbols, but last week she reversed her ruling. When Tran tried to return to his store, he was confronted by protesters and collapsed. He was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.

Tran has said he is not a communist but is exercising his 1st Amendment rights.

But demonstrators were emotional when they spoke of the loss of South Vietnam to the communists in 1975.

“The communist flag and picture of Ho represent war and dying overseas,” said Thuy Hong, employee of a local Vietnamese radio station. “When people see these symbols, they see blood.”

On Friday, the Orange County chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America urged the Vietnamese community to settle its differences with Tran peacefully. John A. Lynch, president of the local VVA chapter, said the group supported Tran’s right to express himself.

In a letter to Vietnamese veterans, Lynch noted that U.S. soldiers fought in the divisive war “at a time when many Americans exercised their freedom of speech, offering different opinions on how to end the war during one of the most difficult times in our country’s history.”

Lynch said the VVA board endorses Westminster Police Chief James Cook’s call to Tran and the protesters to discuss their differences with him and the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

“We proudly salute our fellow South Vietnamese veterans who fought with us side by side,” Lynch wrote in the letter. “We urge the Vietnamese community and public at large to refrain from any further violence.”