Fascists Confronted in Sacramento; Clashes with Police Break Out in the Street

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

Fascists Confronted in Sacramento; Clashes with Police Break Out in the Street

On Monday, February 27th, over 100 counter-demonstrators turned out to shut down a Sacramento planned rally of various white-nationalist and fascist groups under the banner of the ‘South-Africa Project,’ a group which condemns attacks against white-farmers since the fall of Apartheid by non-white people. To read more information about the white power groups bottom-lining and organizing the events across the US, check out our previous article here. Appearing at the Capitol at around 11 AM, counter-demonstrators at first attempted to stop the group of mostly bald-headed white-men from marching onto the steps with banners and shields positioned between themselves and the racists. Unable to push through the police and to physically stop the group from entering the capitol lawn, the counter-demonstrators then gathered themselves on the sidewalk. Chanting “Follow your leader and kill yourself” [a Hitler reference!], “South-African, Indigenous, Rise Up and Resist,” “Cops and Klan Go Hand in Hand,” and “Nazis, Nazis, Come Out and Play, Today Might Be Your Very Last Day!,” the counter-protesters shouted down the racists for over an hour. Several attempts at breaking onto the Capitol lawn were attempted, but were stopped by a collection of law enforcement and horse cops. At one point, a young woman was arrested after she tore up some of the SAP’s flyers, scattering it across the lawn. Police also removed black journalists who were taking pictures as well as Livestreaming the protest while they allowed white journalists free reign of the lawn.

http://www.modestoanarcho.org/2012/02/white-power-groups-plan-demonstration.html

At one point, members of Occupy Oakland, including many in black bloc, (thewearing of all black to protect one from police surveillance), showed up, waving black flags and signs. “The Revolution Has Come, Fuck the Klan!,” they chanted. At one point, the group marched around the Capitol, engaging in a cat and mouse game with police, who tried to keep them on the sidewalk. Members of Occupy Oakland chanted, “OPD has trained us Well, You Don’t Stand a Chance in Hell!” When the group returned to the spot of the original counter-demonstration, word began to pass through the crowd that the permit for the event was ending at 3pm, so people should stick around and try and run the filth off the grass as they left for their cars. While at the scene of the demonstration, Modesto Anarcho editors had the pleasure of talking to various Sacramento residents who were out to bash the fascists.

http://crimethinc.com/texts/atoz/blocs.php

http://www.politicsisnotabanana.com/2012/02/god-only-knows-what-devils-we-are.html

One such young man identified himself as a S.H.A.R.P., or ‘Skinhead Against Racial Prejudice,’ and was part of a long lineage of ‘traditional skinheads,’ a solid working-class and multi-racial culture that originated in England and was influenced by 1st wave ska music from Jamaica. In the 1970′s however, organized racist groups such as the National Front (NF) and later the British National Party (BNP) dove into the skinhead scene, recruiting a new generation towards the racist cause. But since that split, many traditional skinheads have stood up against the racist impostors, using violence and force when needed. The person we talked to described the Sacramento punk scene in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s as one in which a battle was waged against the racist skinheads, who were eventually pushed out of the underground music scene. One of the reasons that people like the one who was interviewed thought it was so important to confront the racist scum in the streets, was so that they could never become as powerful as they were then; harassing, attacking, and terrorizing all those that opposed their racist and fascist agenda or who had the wrong skin color or sexuality.


Around 2:30 PM, the police began to encircle the crowd of fasicsts, who numbers never were larger than 35-40, and began taking them towards a car garage outside of the Capitol lawn. Seizing the opportunity, the crowd of counter-demonstrators rushed to meet them head on in the street and for about 15 minutes had the racists stuck on the Capitol lawn while police attempted to figure out what they were doing. After attempting to push the majority of the anti-fascists onto the opposite side of the street, the police then attempted to create a line between themselves and the fascists as they herded them into a parking garage where their vehicles were parked. At this moment, many within the crowd took the opportunity to let loose a barrage of projectiles at the racists. Responding to the attack on the other side of the line, police then began attacking the anti-fascists with clubs. At one point, an attempted arrest by police was stopped when the crowd pulled the cop off their intended victim.Police did make 3 arrests during the melee. and two police were hospitalized. We encourage everyone to lend support to our comrades facing charges. More info here. People also confronted the filth while they were in their cars, beating on their widows and doors when possible.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/occupy-protesters-clash-sacremento-police-officers-injured-article-1.1029588

http://bayareaabc.wordpress.com/

A total of four comrades were arrested.

The events on Monday were also important because it brought many different militants from the bay area and the Central Valley together in a confrontational action that broke through the bullshit conversations of the ‘Occupy Movement’ around ‘non-violence’ and ‘violence’ and instead engendered a fighting community between comrades. On Monday, there was no politician we were trying to beg too. No message we were trying to get across to those in power. We were brought together with the sole goal of a direct purpose that could only be achieved through collective militant action against our enemies.

While the Nazis were confronted in the streets as well as the cops who protected them, people should be clear on their short comings. People could have been much better prepared to meet the fascists at their meeting spot at 11 AM. Having scouts at the outside of the Capitol would have allowed the larger group time to intersect them directly in the street. When the crowd was then attacking the racists across from the parking garage, it could have also been much better organized and attempted not to scatter when the police attempted to rush the line to move the crowd. We must keep in mind that while police in the Central Valley are not as well trained as in Oakland or San Francisco in dealing with protests, they also do not have to try and appear to act within the facade of a liberal or ‘progressive’ city government. While they may deal less with political clashes in the street, they have cut their teeth in the day in and day out repression of working, poor, migrant, and people of color.

The Central Valley may be largely farmland but it is a desert. A place where nothing is supposed to happen except the constant extraction of profits and resources which feed the rest of the world and make the elites rich and powerful. This is why events like what transpired on the 27th are so important - they cut through the lie of social peace that is this society. It exposes the ongoing social conflict that simply is beneath the surface of a seemingly calm and orderly class-divided society. It reveals that there are people who are organizing and forming associations across geographic lines for the purpose of becoming a concrete material force against the State and capitalism.

In the least, people have shown that racists and fascists cannot walk our streets without resistance.

Freedom to our comrades facing charges.
Death to white supremacy and fascism.

“From Oakland to Sacktown,
the Bay Area and back down,
Cali is where they put they
mack down!”

http://bayareaabc.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/fascists-confronted-in-sacramento-clashes-with-police-break-out-in-the-street/