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Violent clashes broke out between neo-Nazis and protesters at a rally in Sacramento today organized by the Traditionalist Worker Party, a group headed by Matthew Heimbach. Seven people have reportedly been hospitalized with stab wounds.
The details of the incident aren’t clear yet, but the LA Times reports that one member of the group declared on a livestream of the event that “they got one of us but we got six of them.” At least two of the victims “suffered life-threatening stab wounds,” according to NBC affiliate KCRA. [UPDATE: Officials are now telling NBC that 10 people were injured overall, with 5-7 of them suffering stab wounds; all are expected to live. The TWP is boasting that the overwhelming majority of the injured were on the antifa side; see my post here for more details.]
You may remember Heimbach as the long-time white supremacist organizer and Trump fan who was filmed assaulting a young black woman at a Trump rally in March. Before the rally today, Heimbach praised his “brave comrades,” who went to the protest obviously prepared to fight.
EDITED TO ADD: After the clash today, Heimbach told the Los Angeles Times that “this is a victory for us because more of them walked away injured.”
And in an interview with BuzzFeed News he suggested there would be more violent clashes to come:
We knew this was coming. They were threatening to kill us for weeks. This is the beginning of a new dawn for white nationalism in America. We are no longer going to hide in conferences. We are going to take to the streets and take them back.
The Washington Post did a detailed profile of Heimbach earlier this year.
Here’s a CNN report on the violence at the rally from earlier this afternoon; it contains footage of the clashes.
Here are some photos of the aftermath of the violence from Twitter. CAUTION: some of the following images are quite graphic. Note: The information accompanying the images may not be completely accurate or up-to-date.
Three reported stabbings by the Nazis to Antifacists in #Sacramento. #NoNazisInSac pic.twitter.com/2A7TyoBrzJ
— Bradley Allen (@BradleySA) June 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/KhorramiBreanna/status/747220419862630400
https://twitter.com/aurabogado/status/747207566799691776
Horrifying…Blood spatters all over the ground. Police trying to control crowds. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/aPtjTAO6pj
— Frances Wang (@FrancesWangTV) June 26, 2016
Here’s footage of Hembach’s assault of a protester at the Trump rally in March:
Here's Matt Heimbach, guy who organized #Sacremento rally today. Charged for assaulting woman at Trump event in Mar. pic.twitter.com/PvgVw7PR9Y
— annette (@maryannemarin) June 26, 2016
I will update this post as new information becomes available.
@Axecalibur
I was thinking the silver lining was that no one pulled out a gun. -_-
To me it looks like an act of desperation. But that said just because the supporters are doing desperate things doesn’t mean trump can’t win still. It’s not mutually exclusive. Just because your supporter are violent doesn’t mean you can’t win. Quite the opposite actually in my experience. Violence is not the last act always but sometimes the first act of something terrible.
This is why I was hoping left-wing sites spoke out about the guy who tried to assassinate Trump. That needed to be called out and de-escalated as much as possible, because Trump’s fans will only escalate.
I honestly don’t think Trump will become president. His negatives are the pits, his campaign skills are non-existent, his fundraising is a clusterfuck, and even the rabidly lockstep GOP are in disarray right now. The structural obstacles to him becoming president are pretty much insurmountable right now.
The real problem is that win or lose, his supporters are NOT going away. We’re already seeing the racist undertones of the Brexit campaign metastasize into openly racist attacks on anyone who dosen’t look or act sufficiently British. I expect a major uptick in assaults by these bigoted hate-sacks, and the more threatened they feel the more likely they are to respond with violence.
Oh fucking hell. This is like the 1930s.
@kupo
B, thus A
A. The group that organized the original march thingy is based in Indiana. What. The. Fuck. So sick of my state being in the news for terrible things.
B. If you go by percentages, the neo-nazi dudes did far worse than the AntiFa group did… last I heard, there were 200 AntiFa people and like less than 20 neo-nazis, so… .35% of the AntiFa, vs 5% of the nns. Doesn’t sound like winning to me, dickbag.
C. I am hot and tired and feeling physically ill from the heat, and I am SO DAMN SICK of this racist and bigoted shit. Please, please, PLEASE let this be an extinction burst and that it’s over soon. (Probably a vain hope, I know; people have to get their bigoted attitudes into the open by acting on them before social pressure comes to bear, but I gotta hold on to something.) It’s not even the individual acts, horrible as they are, that’s making things difficult for me, it’s the unrelenting regularity of them, and that they’re happening more often. On the bright side, these dickweasels are pissing ME off, which means that they’re also pissing off people with more energy and better health, people who can do something about it. Unfortunately, that may mean more bloodshed, at least for a while.
Terrible as it is, some days I just wish for a way to excise bigoted thoughts from people. Or send them to live on another planet or something… some way to just stop this bullshit.
ETA: I didn’t mean to make this all about me, so I apologize.
Me too.
But if they had a gun they could have stopped the knifing from happening-
Says the same people from the Trump rallies.
I’m terrified that this is coming true. Not the bit about the Nazis “taking back” the streets. I don’t think they will win. But the bit about how they will continue to move more and more into the open, becoming more and more violent.
@Viscaria:
This is the exact sort of thing I was worrying about just the other day.
What is it about being a decent person that makes people so angry that they need to go out and stab or shoot others? I just… don’t get it.
@NiOg
Good point! I assume that the cops will make arrests shortly. I also assume that some people are still in the hospital.
@FrickleFrackle
I couldn’t agree more.
Do I think that the counterprotesters should have let these neo-Nazis wave their signs around and shout their slogans?
Yes, I do.
If one group is shouting and looking for trouble and another group is handing out literature about the issue, the peaceful group will win many more hearts and minds.
That said, self-defense might have been necessary in this instance. I can’t find enough details yet to know.
What a sad situation. The right wing has a lot to answer for.
They’re probably still collecting evidence and interviewing victims and eyewitnesses. Sometimes it’s better that the police take their time gathering all the evidence they can before making an arrest. That insures the right person has been caught and the charges will stick. They want the best possible chance that the persons doing to stabbing will be convicted at trial. If they rush, there’s a chance they won’t gather the needed evidence or the defendant could get off on some technicality.
@dslucia:
I think it’s because being a decent person is contagious. If we go around being decent people then one by one the rest of humanity will become decent, and eventually these dudes will be left all alone as a redoubt of terribleness. It’s like a zombie movie in reverse.
Their only hope is to strike now, before we spread.
@ kat
I’d agree with you that if people spout their hate in a truly public space then it’s probably best to just let them get on with it and make your objections known through peaceful counter demonstrations.
I think there is a huge difference though when people take hate into the hearts of communities. Then they cross a line.
Are you familiar with the Battle of Cable Street for example?
When fascists try to march through areas where those people they seek to victimise live, then that’s a deliberate act of intimidation. It’s an attempt to put fear into people. That’s when I think it becomes justifiable to say “No, this is a line you do not get to cross”.
The issue is whether it’s not only justifiable but also imperative. I can see the argument that it’s best just to ignore such people, and that ‘back turning’ protest did make a good point, and ultimately of course it’s for the people who are being targeted to decide.
Argh, it’s just such a tricky issue. I’m a big believer that mockery is an effective weapon against fascists, but it’s not me who they’re trying to beat up. Is saying ‘we shouldn’t stoop to their level’ demonstrating that we’re better than them; or is that a horrible example of privilege?
I can’t profess to know the answers.
Indiana Nazis. I hate Indiana Nazis.
@Victorious Parasol
That is what the news is reporting around here, yeah.
The police are looking at security cameras, any documented footage, and they are trying to get statements from people who were there.
I am glad that they’re taking their time, instead of just hauling everyone off and trying to go from there, but I am concerned that they’ll take too long as well, considering the antagonizers are still walking around, no doubt in Sacramento.
@ ryeash
Thank you for the laugh – I needed that!
Any time 🙂
@Alan
You make a bunch of really good points, all of them worthy of a lot of consideration.
For me, it comes down to self-defense. If it’s not self-defense, then I say, Don’t do it. Of course, the “fog of war” can make a decision about that tricky.
I heard on my local member-supported radio station (KPFA) that the other side started it and that the police stood by.
But here’s what the Nation (lefty US journal) says:
I’m not down with this. It’s not the way to win hearts and minds. On the contrary, it’s the way to alienate people. It’s also the way for a lot of people to get hurt or die. I guess that both sides want to prove their street-fighting cred. Apparently, the left has tried this out in a few cities now. Will. not. work.
https://www.thenation.com/article/neo-nazis-and-leftists-brawl-in-sacramento/
@ kat
That’s a really interesting article. I’m digesting it now. I note the comments about our situation here; there definitely is a massive polarisation of politics. We haven’t quite reached the levels of overt violence yet; but there’s some real nastiness surfacing. So far it seems limited to words, abuse at passers-by and notes through the door; but who knows where it will end?
You raise so many issues to think about though. Just the alienation vs hearts and minds for one. When does listening become endorsement? When does addressing issues become pandering? When is compromise appeasement?
I have no idea what the solutions may be; it’s hard enough identifying the questions?
I would generally agree that political violence is something to be avoided. It ends with murdered MPs; but sometimes it may be necessary perhaps? People have brought up parallels with what happened in the 1930s. In the UK people took the battle against facism to the streets. How effective was that? Well, I’ll leave consideration of the rise and fall of Mosely’s BUF as an excercise for the reader.
It’s clear that at least some of the anti-fa people are just up for the fight. They’ve got as much concern about the ’cause’ as a football hooligan has for the sport. We see something similar in animal rights.
Your self defence test is a good one. But as you say, identifying what is self defence can be a complex question; and there’s no definitive answer.
Lots to think about.
@kat
The second article on that page is very interesting. Thank you for posting. It looks like Trump has ‘opened the floodgates’ for another, more politically savvy neo fascist demagogue to arrive in his wake. From what’s visible on the streets, this seems like a very prophetic vision.