LOS ANGELES — Dozens of protesters who heard about a planned Ku Klux Klan rally were waiting by a Southern California park when six Klansmen pulled up in a black SUV and took out signs reading “White Lives Matter.’’
The KKK members wore black shirts decorated with the Klan cross and Confederate flag patches. The protesters immediately moved in, surrounding the Klansmen. Someone smashed the SUV’s window, and then a melee ensued.
Witness video captured the brawl just after noon Saturday in an Anaheim park about 3 miles from Disneyland. Several protesters could be seen kicking a KKK member. One Klansman with an American flag used the pole’s tip to stab a man.
“I got stabbed,’’ the man cried, lifting his T-shirt to show a wound to his stomach. A fire hydrant where the man briefly sat was covered in blood.
By the time order was restored, three people had been stabbed, one critically. Five Klansmen were booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, and seven of the approximately 30 counter-protesters were arrested on suspicion of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.
“I thought they were going to stomp these Klansmen to death,’’ said Brian Levin, who directs California State University San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. Levin, who was monitoring the protest, said he tried to intervene, using his body to get between counter-protesters and Klansmen until officers reached the scene.
Levin said he saw no uniformed officers when the melee started. Sergeant Daron Wyatt says police were definitely there and were engaged with people at one end of the fight, and called for additional resources to deploy to the other end. He says the event stretched along an entire city block.
Police Chief Raul Quezada said his officers were able to respond quickly enough to arrest all but one of the main participants, with the exception of one counter-protester who was still at large Sunday. Four of the arrestees were released after a review of video evidence, he said Sunday in a statement from the city.
“We will always honor free speech in Anaheim, but we vehemently reject hate and violent confrontation,’’ Mayor Tom Tait said.
Associated Press
