Seven stabbed when counterprotesters crash neo-Nazi rally outside California Capitol

Seven people were stabbed, with some injured critically, during clashes between rallying neo-Nazis and counterprotesters Sunday at the state Capitol, authorities said.

At least five patients were transported to local hospitals with stab wounds, said Chris Harvey, public information officer for the Sacramento Fire Department. Several other people suffered cuts, scrapes and bruises but were not taken to the hospital, Harvey said.

“It was quite a bit of a melee,” Harvey said, adding that several different groups had descended on the Capitol, including counterprotesters.

A spokeswoman for the University of California, Davis Medical Centre in Sacramento said the hospital was treating eight patients with injuries from the rally. Their conditions ranged from good to critical as of late Sunday afternoon, according to hospital spokeswoman Karen Finney.

The neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party had a permit to hold a rally at noon, said George Granada, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol’s Capitol Protection Section, which has jurisdiction over Capitol grounds. Hours before the scheduled rally, more than 400 counterprotesters began showing up, surrounding the Capitol, Granada said.

Protesters shattered a window on the Capitol’s south ground level.

Around 11.45am, when word spread that about 30 people showed up for the rally, the counterprotesters swarmed toward them and a brawl immediately broke out, Granada said.

“I don’t think there was any verbal exchange, just full-on fight,” he said.