- Far-right militias and pro-Confederacy groups clashed with anti-fascist counterprotesters across the US on Saturday.
- At Stone Mountain Park in Georgia — home to a large Confederate memorial — heavily armed far-right protesters attacked anti-fascist protesters with pepper spray.
- In Kalamazoo, Michigan, a rally organized by the far-right Proud Boys group also turned violent after the group started punching counterprotesters.
- Four arrests were also made in Portland, Oregon, after a small group of far-right demonstrators started shooting paintballs at counterprotesters.
Far-right militias and pro-Confederacy groups clashed with anti-fascist counterprotesters across the US over the weekend.
Videos on social media showed a small number of heavily armed far-right protesters attacking antifa counterprotesters with pepper spray and yelling at them at Georgia's Stone Mountain Park on Saturday. Some fistfights also broke out.
At one point, a man with a "Don't Tread on Me" flag and a rifle pointed his gun at the crowd, according to The Daily Beast.
The confrontation prompted police officers in riot gear and members of the National Guard to disperse the crowd. It is unclear whether any arrests were made.
The far-right paramilitary group known as the Three Percenters initially asked to hold a 2,000-person rally at the park on Saturday but were denied by the police.
In preparation, authorities closed off entry points to the park's large Confederate monument, suspended bus services, and asked locals to avoid the city center.
Stone Park wasn't the only place that saw tense confrontations in the US on Saturday, however.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan, a rally organized by the alt-right group Proud Boys also turned violent after the group started fighting with counterprotesters.
The First Congregational Church hosted a gathering of anti-racism counterprotesters.
"The Proud Boys, they not only have hatred for Jewish people and Muslim people, but they're also very hateful of anybody who doesn't look like them or act like them," Rev. Nathan Dannison, the church's pastor, told the local outlet MLive.
The mask-less Proud Boys, who were chanting and waving American, Trump, and Gadsden flags, were later dispersed by police officers in riot gear.
One Black local reporter who was filming the scenes at the protest was arrested but was later let go. The police said "a few arrests" were made, according to the local affiliate WOOD-TV.
Four arrests were also made in Portland, Oregon, after a small group of alt-right demonstrators started trading paintballs and pepper spray with counterprotesters.
In Oregon's state capital, Salem, scuffles also broke out between several groups of differing ideologies.
Stone Mountain Park is home to the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a giant granite carving that depicts the Confederate figures Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson mounted on horseback.
The memorial, which is the largest Confederate monument in the US, has become a point of friction over the years.
Calls for its removal came after the 2015 massacre at a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, but intensified in recent months following the death of George Floyd.
The former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams once called the carving "a blight on our state," according to The Daily Beast.
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