Three Stabbed at Violent KKK Rally

Cops arrest 13 at California event
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 27, 2016 5:10 PM CST
Three Stabbed at Violent KKK Rally
A Ku Klux Klansman, left, uses an American flag to fend off angry counter protesters after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016.   (Luis Sinco)

Authorities say 13 people are in custody following a violent altercation that left three people stabbed at a Ku Klux Klan gathering in Southern California, the AP reports. A spokesman with the Anaheim Police Department says six of those arrested are Klan supporters and seven counter-protesters. All three people who were stabbed are believed to be counter-protesters. One person is in critical condition and one was stabbed in the upper torso by the tip of a flagpole, the Orange County Register reports. A man wearing a "Grand Dragon" shirt was seen kicked by protesters, the LA Times reports, and Brian Levin, director of CSU San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, says he pushed a Klan leader away during the violence.

"How do you feel that a Jewish guy just saved your life?" Levin says he asked him. According to Levin, the man replied, "Thank you." The KKK's history in Anaheim goes way back: The hate group held four out of five seats on the City Council before being ousted during a recall effort in 1924. Almost 300 Klansmen once lived in the city, where they patrolled with masks and robes and once held a rally that drew 20,000. But recent activities have been "sporadic," says the Times, which notes two incidents of KKK fliers distributed last year. (More KKK stories.)

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