Seven people were sent to the hospital with stab wounds, two with life-threatening injuries, on Sunday afternoon as Black Bloc anarchists attacked and fought with white supremacist groups outside the state Capitol in Sacramento.
Several other demonstrators who managed to avoid the hospital suffered bruises after the groups engaged in a chaotic melee.
The Black Bloc activists were part of a militant leftist “anti-fascist” group,”Antifa Sacramento.” The right-wing extremists were members of the Traditionalist Worker Party and the Golden State Skinheads, and were holding a permitted rally.
The black-clad anarchists, carrying signs reading “Nazi scum,” outnumbered the Traditionalist Workers Party / skinhead group, which was oringally slated to include members of other groups, including “Blood & Honor,” the National Socialist Movement, and the Ku Klux Klan.
The “anti-facist” protestors carried signs reading “Nazi scum.” Shortly before noon, emergency responders were called to the scene as the demonstrations turned violent.
The Los Angeles Times also reported:
Some protesters came dressed for battle, several seen carrying wooden batons and some wearing plastic shields. “They came ready to fight,” said Cooper.
One local television crew was accosted by the protesters that showed up to confront the white supremacist group.
John Breedlove, a videographer for KCRA-TV, said the protester “took his skateboard and just slammed it into the reporter’s gut.” Neither journalist was seriously injured.
Many media reports are quoting the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing organization, which has provided a description of the Traditionalist Workers Party. For example, Fox News writes:
The Southern Poverty Law Center described TWP as a group formed in 2015 as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which aims to “indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism.”
It is worth noting that the SPLC does not seem to acknowledge the rising danger of the “anti-fa” or “anti-fascist movement,” which makes no distinction between fringe groups like the Traditionalist Workers Party and ordinary people who attend Donald Trump events.
As Breitbart’s Adelle Nazarian points out: “The anti-fa and Anarchists are one and the same now, and they also have the same colors, i.e. red and black. Under this same Anti-fa or anarchist umbrella there are also anarchists that claim to not adhere to violence. The Black Bloc are part of this group, but they are actually the violent anarchists. This is a growing movement.”
Members of “anti-fascist” groups like the ones who attacked protestors have also been been responsible for a number of attacks around the country, including attacks on Donald Trump supporters at recent rallies. Some of these attacks follow hyperbolic allegations by some on the left (and even some on the right, such as Glenn Beck) that Donald Trump is “Hitler.”
Anti-fa groups were also behind the attack on journalist Lauren Southern from the Canadian news site The Rebel:
Although the fringe Traditionalist Workers Party group claims to be against leftism, its political agenda shares many similarities with the far left, including its avowed support for socialism and its hostility to Israel and “Zionists.”
In a video broadcast discussing the attack, the TWP also favored the same racial separatist agenda as left-wing groups. As previously reported by Breitbart News, groups like the Freedom Road Socialist Organization believe that Chicano and black people should have their own separate countries. Similarly, commentators on the right-wing extremist Red Ice TV show have suggested that racial groups have their own land area. Similar views are shared by some members of Democrat-connected groups such as Black Lives Matter.
Follow Breitbart News investigative reporter and Citizen Journalism School founder Lee Stranahan on Twitter at @Stranahan. His film The Bloody Road to Cleveland opens in theaters this August.
Listen to the discussion of this article on Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM: