Aug 16, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Far-right groups clash with anti-racism protesters in U.S. cities

The Proud Boys, an alt-right group, faces off against Black Lives Matters protesters using mace and a paint ball gun on August 15, 2020 in downtown Portland, Oregon.

The Proud Boys, a far-right group, faces off against Black Lives Matters protesters using mace and a paint ball gun in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday. Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Far-right demonstrators clashed with anti-racism protesters in several U.S. cities on Saturday, per USA Today.

Driving the news: In Portland, counter-protesters at a pro-police rally were "aiming pepper spray and firing some kind of pellet gun at people" as Black Lives Matter demonstrators marked an 80th straight day of protests, the Oregonian reports.

  • At least one person was wounded after being "hit with a paintball fired from a paintball gun," KGWB notes.
  • There were reports of far-right groups "shooting blanks" and Portland police said one person allegedly fired a gun, but no one was injured, the news outlet added.

At the Oregon Capitol in Salem, "several people with the Black Lives Matter movement were shoved down steps and into a crowd of BLM protesters," according to USA Today.

In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety "made multiple arrests" after several people were wounded during fights between the far-right Proud Boys group and anti-racism protesters in the city, WWMT reports.

  • Michigan Rep. Fred Upton tweeted, "The Proud Boys are a hateful group with a hateful mission. They need to crawl back under whatever rock they came from. They have no place in Kalamazoo and no place in America."
  • MLive said one of its journalists was arrested while covering the clashes in Kalamazoo.

In Georgia, white nationalists scuffled with anti-racism protesters after being denied entry to Stone Mountain Park, which houses the largest Confederate monument in the U.S., per the New York Times.

Go deeper: Dozens of Confederate symbols removed in wake of George Floyd's death

Editor's note: This piece was corrected to show Stone Mountain Park decided to close its park on Aug. 15 (not that the City of Stone Mountain decided to close its park).

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