Brian Levin is an unlikely hero for Ku Klux Klansmen. The former New York cop worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Klanwatch/Militia Taskforce investigating and sued the KKK and other hate groups. He later founded the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernadino.

But what Levin did Saturday, February 27, 2016, caused a neo-Nazi journal to dub him "the Jewish Batman." The Daily Stormer described how Levin jumped because black protesters who attacked a half-dozen KKK members who came to Anaheim, California, for a "White Lives Matter" march.

Levin, who was there to observe the KKK march, put his own safety at risk standing between the angry protesters, including one who used a flag pole to stab a klansmen. He pleaded with them to stop their violence, telling them that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not approve. He is credited with helping at least two KKK members escape further injuries.

"He's like the Jewish Batman!" the Daily Stormer wrote. "Jews truly are the real heroes."

One of the members of the KKK Loyal White Knights even told Levin "thank you."

Excellent Photog Heather Boucher/Davini Photo pics of LWK Klan Rally in Anaheim 2/27 Share w. Credit pic.twitter.com/Ra145XwPM8

-- Brian Levin (@proflevin) February 28, 2016

Levin tells Lead Stories he intervened "because I didn't want to see anyone severely injured."

Non-violence and "the marketplace of ideas" are the only appropriate way to deal with hate speech, he said. "We have to have respect for even the most loathsome free speech," and the KKK is "at the forefront of the most reprehensible speech. Terrible racist and antisemitic language is protected speech."

Richard of Loyal White Knights Ku Klux Klan likes @realDonaldTrump as his choice for President.Anaheim, 2/27/16. pic.twitter.com/Kp5g4AJ1XU

-- Brian Levin (@proflevin) February 29, 2016