A man drove his car at a red light and in a moving crowd at an anti-Asian violence rally in Los Angeles on Sunday, while repeatedly shouting “fuck China” in yet another demonstration of anti-Asian racism.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News that they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The footage from the Diamond Bar rally shows a group of people carrying signs and crossing the street when the man, who is in a dark car, advances towards the crowd and turns around while shouting “fuck China”.
There were no injuries reported in the incident.
In another video, the man is seen getting into his car parked at the side of the road and repeating “fuck China” and “fuck” to the person who is filming.
Your California license plate is visible in the videos.
LASD said on Tuesday that it is working on driver identification, which they described as a white man in his fifties.
A person who filmed one of the videos did not respond to a request for comment.
County supervisor Janice Hahn, who attended the rally and said she had left minutes before the incident happened, tweeted that she was “disgusted. “
“This type of racist vitriol happens very often in our communities and that is exactly why so many AAPI residents – and other residents of color – do not feel safe in their own neighborhoods,” added Hahn.
Diamond Bar is a mostly Asian American and Pacific Island city in Los Angeles County. About 59% of the population identifies themselves as AAPI, according to the 2019 US Census Bureau figures, the most recent available.
In the past few months, there has been a torrent of violent incidents in the United States against Asians, especially elderly Asians. Many attacks were not provoked, with the perpetrators committing what appear to be abrupt acts of violence.
Last week, a sniper shot and killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women, in three spas in the Atlanta area.
The violence led to a national assessment of prejudice and hatred against Asian Americans, many of whom pointed to the racist and discriminatory behavior they have suffered in the past.
A recent report by the organization Stop AAPI Hate found at least 3,795 hate incidents reported targeting Americans of Asian origin last year, from March 2020 to February 2021. The number of actual hate incidents is widely considered to be much higher, and Stop AAPI Hate warned that only self-reported attacks were analyzed in his research.