Sacramento, CA – The members of the Golden State Skinheads (GSS) and the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) gathered this Sunday around the capitol to protest globalization. According to the information provided on their website, they went to the Capitol in order to defend their right to live as white people. A huge group of people who do not agree with these group’s ideas also went to the Capitol, but they were there to counter-protest the nationalist rally.

The counter protest group was way larger than the one formed by the “patriots.” However, as it has been a custom on their rallies, a melee fight took place and the police had to intervene. Authorities report that there are at least 7 people with stab wounds, and several others with cuts and bruises. According to Matthew Heimbach, the Chairman of the TWP, one of the seven people who were stabbed is a member of his party while the other six were with the counter-protesters.

California protest
At least seven people were stabbed in a Sacramento protest. Credit: News.usa.extra.hu

The authorities have not issued an official statement about the final number of victims or their identities, but stabbings are a very common occurrence when traditionalist rallies take place. The events at the Ku Klux Klan rally in South California in February are a perfect example of this. The members of the KKK decided to go on a rally which ended in a confrontation, and yes, there were three stabbed victims.

 According to them, they are ‘traditionalists,’ not Nazis

According to the information on the pages of both the GSS and the TWP, they do not defend racial supremacy. Their manifestos only talk about the rights of being white people with white people’s tradition. In fact, they have been trying to get some of their members inside the world of politics. Their general objective might seem to be protesting the mixing of cultures, and America’s intervention on foreign conflicts. It is no surprise that these self-proclaimed political parties support Donald Trump’s candidature. Mr. Trump speeches are usually crowded with white nationalists and followers of neo-Nazi movements.

Under this premise, it would be difficult to understand why a large group of people would not let them protest, especially when they obtained the proper authorization to do so, but there is a good reason for it.

Even though the parties’ speeches are full with talks of peaceful protest and claims that they want to follow legal processes, members of these organizations have been involved in hate crimes around the area. In fact, earlier this year, a new slogan started to pop-up among the nationalist groups in Sacramento. “White Genocide” is supposed to be a call for arms to every “patriot” that wants to “clean” the streets from the minorities “invading the country.”

In May, the Sacramento Police Department reported that a lot of fliers started to appear around the city urging “lone wolfs” to systematically kill every Muslim and Latino not only in the United States but around the world. The authorities immediately suspected Greg Withrow, who is one of the founders of the new neo-Nazi movements, but they did not found a direct link between the man and the violent propaganda. In the end, the case went cold. However, this triggered the alarms in the community which started to oppose this kind of hateful rhetoric.

Members of both the GSS and the TWP have been heard endorsing racial slur, and some people believe the mass awakening of these hate groups around the United States is a direct consequence of Donald Trump’s speech during his electoral race.

Source: Miami Herald