Ten people were injured Sunday after violence ensued between a white supremacist group, the Traditionalist Worker Party; and counter-protesters at a rally the former had organized.
Two of the people injured had critical stab wounds. The Sacramento Fire Department revealed that the nine men and one woman injured were between 19 and 58. They all had multiple stab and laceration wounds. Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey reported that one of the injured refused to go to the hospital.
The Traditionalist Worker Party, TWP, described as a “white nationalist group,” had a permit for a rally near the state Capitol. On their website, they state that “European-American identity is under constant attack.” The counter-protestors arrived “to stop them from carrying their permit.”
At around 11:45 AM, TWP members rallied near the capitol building. The protestors arrived and videos showed people running and being followed by others with sticks.
Sacramento Police Department Officer Matt McPhail stated that the victims had stab wounds that required medical care. No injuries appeared to be life-threatening. Others had surface wounds which did not require hospitalization. McPhail said that it is unsure to which group the injured belong.
Matthew Heimbach, leader of the Traditionalist Worker Party, was not at the rally, but he said that members present were armed with knives and blades that were in accordance with the California legal limit. Another group, the Golden State Skinheads, joined them for the rally.
The Tradiitonalist Worker Party was founded in 2015 as a right-wing extremist “umbrella group that aims to indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism.”
The protestors present at the rally were described themselves as anti-fascist. Heimbach said that the anti-fascists used knives, bottles, and bricks to attack members of the TWP and that the TWP members “defended themselves to be able to drive the attackers off.”
Art Roderick, a CNN law enforcement analyst, said that it is not unusual for opposing groups to organize simultaneous protests.
“They (the counter-protesters) were there for one reason and that was to use violence to break the other group up. It looks like anywhere from 100 to 200 of them showed up against 30 of the other.”
