Tensions began to rise around Huntington Beach Pier on Sunday afternoon as people protested against a scheduled rally of white rule with Donald Trump supporters and individuals viewing white supremacist beliefs.
Several hundred people started Sunday morning in the square area at the foot of the pier to start against the so-called White Lives Matter protest, which would begin at 1 p.m. Police officers stood at the edge of the pier while helicopters and drones circled overhead.
A group of cyclists and motorcyclists raised their fists and howled their trumpets in support of the crowd, chanting, “What do we want?” ‘Unit!’ “When do we want it?” ‘Now!’
The protest, which began around 11 a.m., was largely peaceful. No large groups of people expected to attend the white supremacy were at the pier on Sunday afternoon. By 2 p.m., however, arguments between individual participants, Trump supporters and counter-protesters began to erupt along the Pacific Coast Highway.
The situation came to a boil when a man with a beard and cigar approached the plaza in front of the pier and repeatedly ‘white lives matter’, before shouting at a counter-protester, holding a poster with the title ” Death to the Klan “. ”
A crowd quickly gathered around them, saying, “Nazis are going home,” until the man pulled back across the Pacific Coast Highway.
In a separate incident, Peter Zazzara, 59, and several opponents ended up in a screaming match when Zazzara was questioned about a skull tattoo on his right arm. Zazzara became angry and started cursing at the group and eventually crossed his arms to cover the ink, which he said was part of a ‘military elite unit’. The Anti-Defamation League classifies the tattoo – known as the Totenkopf, or Death Head – as a hate symbol. The statue was used by the SS organization and according to the ADL, it has been adopted by neo-Nazis and white supremacists since World War II.
The crowd started to get excited again shortly after 1pm when a small group of people with Trump 2020 flags, American flags and a banner with the caption “Do not step on me” gathered in front of the plaza at the foot of the pier .
At least ten mounted police officers and deputies from the sheriff in Orange County gathered on the Pacific Coast Highway when people started spilling the street. An outburst took place when a man waving a flag ‘All vital’ started approaching the counter-protests. He was quickly surrounded and tossed away from the pier amid chants of “You are not welcome here.”
Kelly Johnson (60) and Ted Laporte (57) of Huntington Beach arrived along the Pacific Coast Highway with a high pole with American flags, Trump 2020 flags, a Gadsden flag and a black and gray All Lives Matter- flag. Johnson, formerly of Laguna Nigel, added an orange jack-o’-lantern Halloween decoration. He changed that by putting on a blue surgical mask and writing ‘Wuhan virus’.
Johnson said he heard about the Black Lives Matter rally while attending another rally in Laguna Beach on Saturday. He said he was not connected to the White Lives Matter protest.
“It’s not that black lives do not matter, but it’s about knowledge and truth,” he said. He argued that BLM only creates ‘racial division’.
Many people who arrived at the pier on Sunday did so to show opposition to the recent white supremacist activities taking place in the city.
Among them was Denise Wada, a 20-year-old resident of Huntington Beach, who stood with other protesters and her dog, Banner, a Brittany in PCH and Main Street. Wada was bothered a week ago when she learned on NextDoor, an app where residents can share information about their neighborhoods, that Ku Klux Klan kites were left on the doorstep of homes in her city.
“I was terrified that someone would do it,” she said.
Wada said there was discussion on her neighborhood forum that it might be a joke, but that it, regardless of whether it was false, required a harsh response.
“I can’t keep quiet about it,” she said. “The point is that it is there, and that racial justice must be tougher.”
Tory Johnson, founder of local grassroots group Black Lives Matter Huntington Beach, which hosted a counter-protest, was standing in a suit and tie with a megaphone in hand as the crowd grew Sunday morning.
“It’s going to be a big day, that’s for sure,” he said.
In the distance, swimmers and volleyball players on the beach paid little attention to the rising tension at the pier. Johnson estimated that a few hundred people might turn up, but could not say for sure how much was expected.
“I just want to occupy this space,” Johnson said, “and convey the message that we do not want it to be a city of hatred and division.”
Shortly after the protest began, police arrested three protesters. One was accused of using amplified sound and a second allegedly obstructed the police and had a metal stick, two cans of pepper spray and a knife in his backpack, lt. Brian Smith said. A third man was also arrested, but Smith could not say why.
A woman was arrested about an hour later after she was allegedly found with pepper spray, which was banned at a public meeting, Smith said.
Activist Najee Ali described the arrests as a “double standard in the way our protests were pleaded … either in DC or here in Orange County.”
Ali, who was wearing a shirt with the words “I can not breathe”, said the timing of the White Lives Matter protest was probably related to the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer. “Without a doubt,” he said.
“I’m here from Los Angeles just to show solidarity against racism, hatred and intolerance,” Ali said. “It’s important that Huntington Beach residents know they are not alone and we are with them.”
Smith said they “have more staff than usual here” but could not confirm how many officers were deployed to the area. The department has a major emergency, he says.
“Our hope is that everyone today can come and express their freedom of speech in a peaceful way,” he said.
Authorities could not determine who organized the White Lives Matter event or make contact with them, he said.
The protest, which was advertised via social media, is one of several such demonstrations being presented across the country. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the rallies were organized through the messaging app Telegram.
This comes after KKK propaganda kites were delivered to homes in Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Long Beach in recent weeks. Police do not believe the same people are responsible for the kites and the protest, Smith said.
Roger, 65, who has lived in Huntington Beach since 1975, held a sign in his left hand reading ‘Old White Guys Against Racism’ and ‘No H8 in HB’ on the other. In his right hand he held an American flag.
“I’m here to defend my city,” Bloom said. ‘It’s a wonderful city full of wonderful people. Just because a handful of pathetic losers come out here and there to a public square and get a stench … they give the city a bad name. I wish they would go back to their cellars and stay there. ”
Antonieta Gimeno, 78, said she drove from LA to show solidarity with the protesters.
“I am appalled by the violence against black people, Mexican people, Asian people,” said Gimeno, a Mexican. “It’s a small step, but the more people stand in unity, the more we can show that black lives must also be important for white lives to prevail.”
Cliff Smith – with a sign that reads: “Death to the Clan! International working class solidarity! “- prefers to stay on the corner of Main and PCH while the counter-protesters gather in a circle to sing.
“It’s about being visible,” said Smith, 51, of South Los Angeles. “The crowd seems to have it under control.”
Smith was standing next to his friend Jesus Portillo, 35, a resident of Orange. He held up a sign that read, “End Racism.”
Portillo, who is a Mexican, said he was proud of his sign to defend his ‘color, my people and the resistance’.
“I experienced a lot of racism, especially because my family and I are Latinos,” he said. “We are always drawn.”
Huntington Beach has been struggling with extremism for decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, his pier and surf became a magnet for skinheads, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis.
Two notorious hate crimes in the mid-1990s solidified the city’s reputation as a hotbed of racism. In 1994, two skinheads shot dead a black man outside a McDonald’s on Beach Boulevard. 44-year-old Vernon Windell Flournoy stumbled into the restaurant and collapsed before terrified meals.
Jonathan Russell Kennedy, 19, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter, as well as to charges of attempted murder of two Latino men in a separate attack a few weeks earlier, and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Robert Wofford, 17, of Laguna Niguel, also pleaded guilty to the death of Flournoy and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Although Huntington Beach remains largely conservative, it is increasingly an island surrounded by growing liberalism and racial diversity. Orange County as a whole has experienced a remarkable demographic shift over the past two decades with the arrival of more Asian and Latino residents who have helped tilt the area toward Democrats.
Experts believe such demographic shifts are the strongest predictors of an increase in political extremism and hate crimes in neighborhoods where some fear that their way of life is threatened.
Meanwhile, Huntington Beach City Council at its meeting last week denounced hate speech and white supremacy. The city is also hosting a virtual ‘Day of Unity’ at the same time as the White Lives Matter rally.