Illustrative: A Ku Klux Klansman, left, uses an American flag to fend off angry counter protesters after members of the KKK tried to start a 'White Lives Matter' rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim, California, on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via AP)
ANAHEIM, California — Three people were stabbed at a Ku Klux Klan gathering Saturday in Southern California, police said. At least one person was in critical condition.
An altercation between a group of KKK members and counter-protesters erupted at a Klan rally in Anaheim, with both sides involved in violent attacks, Sgt. Daron Wyatt with the Anaheim Police Department told The Associated Press.
Three people, all initially believed to be counter-protesters, were stabbed. One person was in custody.
Wyatt said a Klan member was stomped on by counter-protesters during another altercation. Three people have been detained.
The KKK has a long history in Southern California, with Klansmen holding elected office in Anaheim in the 1920s. Nationwide, the number of active KKK groups increased to 190 in 2015 after falling in 2013 and 2014, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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Counter protesters taunt an injured Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a “White Lives Matter” rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim, California on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via AP)
In January 2015, packets containing fliers condemning Martin Luther King, Jr. and supporting the Ku Klux Klan were left in the driveways of about 40 homes in Santa Ana, about 8 miles south of Anaheim. The baggies contained a KKK business card, rock and candy.
The fliers opened with the heading, “On Martin Luther King Day, you are celebrating a communist pervert.” The bottom of the fliers state they came from the “Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
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