Anger And Fear As Asian American Seniors Targeted In Bay Area Attacks

In this Jan. 31, 2020, file photo, a masked worker cleans a street in the Chinatown district in San Francisco. Police and volunteers have increased their street presence after a series of violent attacks against older Asian residents in Bay Area cities stoked fear and subdued the celebratory mood leading up to the Lunar New Year.

Ben Margot / AP

Business and civil rights groups in California are demanding action after a recent surge of xenophobic violence against Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area left one person dead and others badly injured.

The brazen, mostly daylight assaults have rattled nerves in communities ahead of Friday’s Lunar New Year holiday.

Just last week in San Jose, a 64-year-old grandmother was assaulted and robbed of cash she’d just withdrawn from an ATM for Lunar New Year gifts.