TWP had planned to hold a rally at the California State Capitol, but when word got out, a counter-protest was organized by an anarchist group known as “Antifa Sacramento.”
Shortly before the event was scheduled to begin, blood was spilled on to the sidewalk as the two groups clashed with sticks, fists, and, eventually, knives.
— Matthew Heimbach (@MatthewHeimbach) June 26, 2016
Now, TWP has announced that they will attend the protest at the RNC in Cleveland, which begins on July 18.
“We’re essentially just going to show up and make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs,” TWP spokesman Matt Parrott told McClatchy.
He added that he expects police to keep the situation under control, but admitted “there might be a couple of isolated skirmishes.”
“You’re going to have a relatively civil event where you’re going to have the leftists protesting Trump and you’re going to have us arguing up against the leftists,” he predicted. “And you’re going to have the police there ensuring that you’re going to have a first world situation and not some sort of ‘Gangs of New York’ knife fight.”
The announcement has raised concerns on the left, especially given that Matthew Heimbach, founder of the white supremacist group, was caught on camera assaulting a black female protester at a Donald Trump rally earlier this year.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Heimbach as “this generation’s David Duke.”
Cleveland had previously planned to block off nearly four square miles around the convention center to prevent protesters from disrupting the event, but the measures were thrown out by a judge last week who determined the plan to be a violation of free speech.
— Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 26, 2016
The city will, however, have 200 beds waiting in case of mass arrests.
