Man Wearing Swastika Gets Knocked Out in Seattle

A man wearing a swastika armband was knocked out cold on the streets of Seattle Sunday after reportedly instigating fights in the city's downtown area. Police say they were on the scene within minutes of the fights being reported, but arrived to find the man already unconscious on the ground, the Seattle Times reports. In a tweet sent out Monday police said the man refused to discuss the incident with them and left the scene after taking off his armband. Video of the confrontation spread quickly on social media. In it, the swastika-wearing man can be heard saying, "They deserve the welfare," before an unidentified man in a grey sweatshirt punches him in the face, knocking the man unconscious.

The man had been photographed earlier in the day riding a city bus downtown, and the picture was soon posted on several anti-fascist Twitter accounts and other sites, BuzzFeed reports. The anonymous user of one of those pages, @teethnclaws, credited anti-fascists online, who, he says, "successfully identified, tracked and coordinated to neutralize a clear and present danger to Seattle." He called the incident the positive result of "horizontal organizing between concerned neighbors." Seattle police say there is currently no investigation because no one has reported a crime. (More Nazi stories.)