Police in Washington, D.C., struggled to keep protesting groups apart Saturday as repeated shouting matches broke into scuffles between far-right Proud Boys and left-wing activists affiliated with Antifa.
Police made at least six arrests in connection with the day’s protests, WUSA9 reported
Members of the Proud Boys came to the nation’s capital with leader Enrique Tarrio to put on a show of force at a series of pro-Trump rallies urging him not to concede the presidential election — and they were eager to tangle with the black bloc demonstrators who have been gathering for months at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House.
Cops formed phalanxes across many of the city’s streets to try to keep the groups apart, at one point turning back a large contingent of Proud Boys — dressed in their signature black and gold colors and chanting “F–k Antifa!” — who seemed intent on reaching the counter-demonstrators.
But members of the groups got close enough to trade punches in several incidents, forcing police to deploy pepper spray to separate them.
Earlier, one person was reportedly stabbed after a pedestrian threw a punch at rushed a group of black-clad men making their way toward the rally site at Freedom Plaza.
As darkness fell, members of the groups lined up on opposite sides of K Street to lob smoke bombs and water bottles at each other, video showed.
