Anti-Tea Party Tide Turning Bloody

Fistfights at tea party rallies over the weekend have some analysts worried that the violent backlash may be only just beginning. In Fort Lauderdale, anti-tea party activists chanting "Amnesty yes, racists no!" clashed with tea party protesters who entered their protest zone. The group had emailed members calling for "a militant confrontation" with "tea-baggers," the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Some activists have begun taking weapons to rallies, showing "a stronger degree of alienation and threat," noted one expert in social movements. Fights around tea parties aren't always between left and right, however. In Phoenix scuffles broke out when activists tried to prevent a group of neo-Nazis brandishing a swastika flag and a portrait of Adolf Hitler from joining an anti-immigration rally. (More tea parties stories.)