WESTMINSTER PROTEST
Thousands of people gathered and took to the streets in Orange County to protest the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the killing of Breonna Taylor in a police raid of her Louisville apartment, among others.
A curfew was implemented at 10 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday in Santa Ana, where approximately 30 people peacefully gathered about 8 p.m. in front of Santa Ana College, at 1530 W. 17th St. and marched west on 17th. A group of several dozen people circled back to their starting about 10 p.m. and blocked the intersection at Bristol Street, violating the curfew and blocking traffic.
In Costa Mesa about 400 demonstrators gathered in the afternoon at Shiffer Park, on Bear Street south of the San Diego (405) Freeway, and the crowd grew to about 700 as the people marched to Carl Thornton Park at 1801 W. Segerstrom Ave. in Santa Ana for speeches, then on to Memorial Park, on Flower Street, and back to Shiffer, where the event ended about 8:45 p.m. Saturday, Costa Mesa police said.
In Westminster, a demonstration began with approximately 200 people at Westminster Park on Magnolia Street and grew to 2,000 as participants marched to the Westminster Civic Center at Westminster Boulevard and Jackson Street, and ended just before 8 p.m. Saturday back at Westminster Park, said Westminster police.
Surfers paddled out at the Huntington Beach Pier and demonstrators continued into the afternoon with protesters from Black Lives Matter squaring off with Pro-President Donald Trump counter-protesters. At least two arrests were reported.
Westminster is a city in northern Orange County, California known for its many Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to the city during the 1980s. They settled largely in Little Saigon, and the city is known as the "capital" of overseas Vietnamese with 36,058 Vietnamese Americans and at 40.2% (2010), the highest municipal prevalence of Vietnamese Americans. Westminster was founded in 1870 by Rev. Lemuel Webber as a Presbyterian temperance colony and was incorporated in 1957.
Westminster is bordered by the city of Seal Beach on the west, by Garden Grove on the north and east, and by Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley on the south. Santa Ana, the county seat of Orange County, is right next to Westminster on the east but is divided by a small part of Garden Grove. Westminster borders the unincorporated area of Midway City, except for a small portion where Midway City borders Huntington Beach on the south.
