Police in Huntington Beach, California, closed an organized so-called “White Lives Matter” march within 90 minutes on Sunday afternoon after several participants violently clashed with protesters.
Opponents of Black Lives Matter numbered far more than the white nationalists who gathered near the pier of Huntington Beach for the protest, which began at 1 p.m. local time. After a few arrests, police declared the event an illegal assembly at 2.30pm and ordered the ‘riotous crowd’ to disperse.
Several violent confrontations took place between protesters and counter-protesters before authorities seized the opportunity.
In a video shared on YouTube, one man can be seen slapping another man in the face in front of the police officer because he repeatedly asked him, “Why do you hate me?”
“F *** off you Nazi b ****,” shouted one bystander at the violent man as he turned to walk away.
David McNew / Getty Images
Another man, who is carrying a Trump 2020 flag, was reportedly involved in a separate altercation with protesters. Authorities also arrested several people with knives and pepper spray.
Police took two protesters Black Lives Matter arrested this morning with a group gathered near the pier. The protesters arrived hours before the “White Lives Matter” trek was to begin.
A video shared on Twitter shows police arresting a black man while he is surrounded by a raging crowd of protesters.
User @waterspider__, who shared the footage, claims the black man was’ arrested for a ‘noise offense’. “
Huntington Beach Police Chief Brian Smith has confirmed that one protester was arrested for using amplified audio. He also said a second was arrested for attempting to interfere with the first man’s arrest.
“The first gentleman was detained and escorted for a noise offense when the second gentleman interfered and obstructed the officers’ duties. He was arrested and arrested for it and found to be in possession of a metal stick, a knife and two cans. pepper spray, ”he said.
Lt. Brian Smith of Huntington Beach PD said two people were arrested. One was arrested for making noise and said he was not allowed to bring amplified music. The other was arrested for obstructing an officer, but he could not specify what that meant. pic.twitter.com/SQNe8GpQVM
– pierce singgih (@piercesinggih) 11 April 2021
A group called the loyal white knights of the KKK organized the rally on social media, with the aim of ‘reviving white racial awareness and uniting white people against white hatred’, according to the messages shared on Telegram.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department assisted city authorities by sending its regional unit to the event. “This is the extent of our involvement at this time,” Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the department, said. Los Angeles Times. “We are monitoring open source information to monitor additional events in our jurisdiction, but at this time we are not aware of it.”
Newsweek reached Huntington Police for further information.