Klan has history in city where it set rally

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The home of Disneyland, the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth, is also the town where the Ku Klux Klan once ran the City Council, burned crosses, and rallied 10,000 people in a city park.

That rally back in 1924 proved to be a turning point for Anaheim, which ousted the Klan and broke ground on Disneyland a generation later. Now a majority-Hispanic city of 350,000, it's hardly welcome territory for a KKK protest against immigration.

Mayhem ensued Saturday as soon as six Klan members pulled up in a black SUV for a rally they had advertised in advance and pulled out signs saying "White Lives Matter."

Dozens of protesters swarmed in and someone smashed a window. The SUV then sped away, leaving three Klansmen dressed in black shirts decorated with the Klan cross and Confederate flag patches outnumbered.

Police said one Klansmen carrying an American flag stabbed a protester with the bald eagle decorating the end of his pole. Counterprotesters, meanwhile, were seen stomping on Klan members. By the end, three people had been stabbed, one critically, and a dozen others arrested.

The counterprotesters "were so angry, they would have torn these folks limb from limb," said Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "I was afraid for their lives."

Levin, who went to Pearson Park expecting to record the rally for research, found himself protecting the Klansmen until police could intervene. On a video Levin shot and posted to Twitter, he later asked one of them, "How do you feel that a Jewish person helped save your life today?"

"I thank you. I thank you," said the Klansman, waving away the question with his blood-spattered arm. "I would have saved a colored man's life," he added.

Five Klansmen were booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, and seven of the approximately 30 counterprotesters were arrested on suspicion of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.

When the melee started, Levin said, he saw no uniformed officers.

Sgt. Daron Wyatt said police were there and engaged with people at one end of the fight, and called for additional resources to deploy to the other end. The event stretched along an entire city block, he said.

Police Chief Raul Quezada said his officers were able to arrest all but one of the main participants, a counterprotester. "Even if the vast majority of our community disagrees with a particular group who visits our city, we cannot stop them from lawfully gathering to express their opinions," Quezada said. "Violence is not acceptable."