Rally by white nationalists turns violent in California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — White nationalists and skinheads, clad in black, began to arrive a little before noon Sunday for their planned march on the state Capitol grounds. They were met by hundreds of protesters toting signs that denounced “Nazi scum.”
Violence began almost immediately, authorities and witnesses said, and by the time the clashes ended 20 minutes later, at least seven people had been stabbed, nine were hospitalized and many more suffered bruises, scrapes and cuts.
“They attacked each other without hesitation,” said counter demonstrator Chandra Zafra, 50, a member of the Mexica Movement nonprofit. “It was a war zone.”
For much of the afternoon, the historic domed Capitol was locked down, with staffers and tourists inside. Police swarmed the park-like grounds, but by Sunday evening there had still been no arrests.
The Sacramento stabbings came several months after another violent confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan group and counter-protesters at an Anaheim park.
Counter protester Yvette Felarca, 46, said the marchers had been driven away and had not been able to recruit members.
Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said he had long warned that the Capitol rally could erupt into violence. It had been planned for weeks, giving both sides plenty of time to organize.
Levin said such violence ultimately can play into the message of white supremacists who claim they are “under siege.”
“Make no mistake — I think the hatemongers wanted to have this violence take place,” Levin said. “And some of the antifascists very much wanted to have a violent confrontation.”
The Traditionalist Worker Party, known as a white nationalist group, said on its website that it had planned the Sunday event in conjunction with the Golden State Skinheads “to make a statement about the precarious situation our race is in” after “brutal assaults” at Donald Trump events in California.
Its vice chairman, Matt Parrott, blamed “leftist radicals” for instigating the violence Sunday.
Videos and photos of the rally posted on social media showed the white nationalists vastly outnumbered by protesters from anti-fascist groups.
“We stood our ground. We will be back,” Traditionalist Worker Party Chairman Matthew Heimbach, who was not at the rally, said in a phone interview.
The anti-fascist organization Antifa Sacramento, which had been promoting a “Shut Down Nazi Rally” event on its website, did not respond to requests for comment.
“The Nazis are the violent ones — we are acting in self-defense,” said Felarca, who sustained a bloody blow to the head. “We need to take them head-on, confront them, but with as many people as possible.”