Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen directed city staff to shut off the sound system while Councilmember Amy Phan West addressed Vietnam veterans at the city's official recognition ceremony on Sunday, witnesses said.

The incident occurred at the American Vietnam War Veterans Day Recognition Ceremony at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park — a city-hosted event Nguyen presided over as mayor. The official program listed the mayor and the Westminster City Council as speakers. Phan West is a member of the Westminster City Council.

When she approached the podium, staff members looked to the mayor. He told them to cut the mic.

Phan West did not stop. She stood at the podium and delivered her remarks without amplification, addressing the assembled veterans while the sound system sat silent.

The response from the crowd was not what the mayor might have hoped for. Veterans in attendance expressed open frustration with Nguyen's conduct. During the post-ceremony handshake line, several veterans refused to shake his hand. At least one called him a communist — a pointed insult in a community built by people who fled communist Vietnam.

Phan West received sustained support from the veterans in attendance.

The ceremony was livestreamed on YouTube and the moment is on the record.

Sunday's scene follows a pattern that has now played out in public more than once. Earlier this month, North OC Pulse reported that a city council majority — led by Carlos Manzo, a colleague Phan West once filed a police report against, and including Mark Nguyen, the mayor's own brother-in-law — voted to bar Phan West from speaking at city events. Chi Charlie Nguyen cast the deciding vote.

Both Nguyen and Phan West are running in the CA-45 congressional race, competing for the same seat while he controls which elected officials get a microphone at official city functions.

On Sunday, the program said the council would speak. Phan West is on the council. The mayor cut her mic anyway.