Brawl erupts after elderly man confronts Orange County woman over her swastika armband: report

Authorities in Orange County, California, are recommending hate crime charges against a woman who allegedly hurled anti-Semitic insults at a man who asked her to remove a Nazi armband she was wearing, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The woman was sporting the armband while walking around a local community center on March 7. When the 81-year-old man confronted the woman, she reportedly responded with the anti-Semitic comments. That's when a physical altercation broke out with other men who tried to remove her armband.

After police arrived and took a report of the incident, the district attorney’s office recommended the woman be charged with criminal threats, offensive words used to provoke a reaction, and a hate crime enhancement.

The Anti-Defamation League tweeted a photo of the woman, showing her dressed in all black with a swastika emblazoned on her left arm.

“We demand that Laguna Woods leaders speak out against this outrageous act of Jew-hatred and condemn acts like this which can and do inspire further incidents of antisemitism and bigotry of all kinds,” Peter Levi, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Friday in a statement.

The incident comes a month after anti-Semitic fliers were distributed in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Cypress -- all cities within Orange County.

The Orange County Human Relations Commission found last year that hate crimes increased by 35% in the region in 2020, the largest annual jump in at least a decade.

Laguna Woods Mayor Carol Moore has condemned the woman. “The city of Laguna Woods stands firmly against antisemitism, bigotry and hate in all its forms, fully and without exception,” she said in a statement. “The conduct alleged in the disturbance is abhorrent, inexcusable, and antithetical to the character and values of our community."

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