Ku Klux Klan rally turns bloody as three people are stabbed

A Ku Klux Klan rally in Southern California ended in bloody violence on Saturday after three people were stabbed, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The local Orange County branch of the Klan had gathered in Anaheim. On Friday, the Anaheim Police Department had posted a message about the rally on its Facebook page, saying it would be watching:

This group has held similar rallies throughout Orange County over the past few years. Members of the sponsoring group typically pass out literature and hold signs with messages, which while controversial, are protected by the First Amendment.

APD will be monitoring the situation for any violations of law.

Even with police there, though, tensions apparently boiled over. In all, one Klan member and two people who turned up to protest the gathering were stabbed. From the Times report:

At some point, a counter-protester collapsed on the ground bleeding, crying that he had been stabbed.

A Klansman in handcuffs could be heard telling a police officer that he “stabbed him in self-defense.” Several other people were also handcuffed.

[…]

Another protester was also stabbed during the melee, said Sgt. Daron Wyatt of the Anaheim Police Department. One Klansman and several protesters were arrested following the fracas.

The Klan have played a major role in Orange County ever since a Klansman helped to found the county in the late 19th century. KKK figures served at several levels of local government in the 1920s, and a 2013 roundup from the OC Weekly shows the many different places in the county named after prominent local Klan members.

Recently, the Klan has been in the national news for its increasingly vocal support of Donald Trump.