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'White Pride' Rally At California Capitol Erupts In Violence: 7 People Stabbed

  • by: Alan Duke
  • (Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:09:30 Z)

A "white pride" rally on the grounds of the California state capitol in Sacremento erupted in violence Sunday afternoon. Seven people suffered stab wounds, according to George Granada, California Highway Patrol spokesman None of the wounds were life-threatending, he said.

The violence began when a group of about 200 members of "an anti-fascist group" rushed the 30 members of the white nationalists group, Granada said. The two groups "collided" and a series of fights involving knives and sticks broke out.

Violence at the rally, held by the Traditionalist Workers Party -- a white nationalists group -- was not unexpected, according to Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The group of counter protesters "have been telegraphing this for weeks" that they would be there to oppose the rally, he said. The nationalist group had a legal permit to hold the rally.

The group's leader, Matthew Heimbach, gained notice earler this year when he pushed a black protester at a Donald Trump rally. Heimbach considered canceling the event before it started because of threats from people angry about that incident, Levin said.

Masked counter protesters were lined up against the white supremacists as the rally began.

Sacramento police and state police were out in force ahead of the violence.

This is a longer video showing the lead up to the violence.

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About the author:

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

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