[ad_1]
A police officer investigates the scene near Pearson Park in Anaheim, California, February 27, 2016, after three counter-protesters were stabbed while clashing with Ku Klux Klan members staging a rally. Thirteen people were arrested.
Photo by RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images
Members of the Ku Klux Klan who were arrested following a brutal beatdown in Anaheim were released because they were acting in self-defense, police said citing evidence, the Associated Press reports.
The five KKK members were released while seven others remained in custody as they were seen beating, stomping and attacking the Klansmen with wooden posts, police Sgt. Daron Wyatt explained on Sunday, according to the wire.
The clash was reportedly initiated by a larger group of 10 to 20 protestors who had “the intent of perpetrating violence” after six Klan members arrived at a park on Saturday for a planned anti-immigration rally, the police statement said. Klansmen stabbed three of the counter protestors with knives and the end of a flag pole.
“Regardless of an individual or groups’ beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked,” the police statement read.
However, though the Klansmen were released the AP notes that prosecutors plan to review the case to decide whether to file criminal charges.
As for the seven counterprotestors who still remain in custody, they were booked for assault with a deadly weapon or elder abuse for stomping on an elderly Klansman.
Read more at Talking Points Memo.
[ad_2]
