SHOCKER: Police Say Leftists Started Violence at Rally in Sacramento

A series of violent clashes this weekend involving neo-Nazis permitted to rally at the state Capitol was initiated not by the white nationalist group but by counter-protesters, a law enforcement official said Monday.

"If I had to say who started it and who didn't, I'd say the permitted group didn't start it," said California Highway Patrol officer George Granada, a spokesman for its Protective Services division. "They came onto the grounds and were met almost instantly with a group of protesters there not to talk."

The Traditionalist Worker Party had a permit to hold a rally on the Capitol grounds at noon, Granada said.​​​​​​​

Waiting for them were counter-protesters, including members of the anti-fascist organization Antifa Sacramento, which had promoted a "Shut Down Nazi Rally" event on its website leading up to Sunday.

At least seven people stabbed in melee between neo-Nazis, counter-demonstraters in Sacramento Authorities said some of the stabbing victims are in critical condition.

A similar melee broke out in Anaheim earlier this year when members of the Ku Klux Klan announced they were holding a rally at a park. Counter-protesters showed up early and waited. When the first Klansmen arrived, they were set upon by the group.

Three people were stabbed at the Anaheim rally. At the Sacramento rally Sunday, seven people were stabbed and nine were hospitalized.

Granada said more than 100 CHP and Sacramento police officers were at the park to keep the peace, but the ground spans five city blocks and violence broke out intermittently. Sacramento police found a loaded gun but the CHP didn't recover any knives or other weapons, Granada said.

"It's not like all that stuff is visible up until it's about to be used… a lot of that stuff comes out of wherever," he said. "We were prepared… it could've been much worse. Luckily there were no injuries to officers, tourists or people of the general public."