Tear Gas, Arrests Mark Klan Rally

Police sprayed tear gas into the crowd during a Ku Klux Klan rally Saturday after a few counter-demonstrators hurled rocks at officers and rushed the door of a police station.

At least five of the 1,000 anti-Klan demonstrators were arrested on charges including assault. No Klan members were arrested.

One woman suffered a minor head injury, a man broke his leg and 30 officers were treated for chemical irritation, said Police Chief Carl Ent, who defended using tear gas.

“The actions by the police were just, in response to the actions by the crowd,” he said. “No actions were taken until the crowd began pelting officers with rocks, bricks, sticks and bottles.”

The melee started about an hour after 15 Klan members began the noon rally at police headquarters, where Ent said they were allowed to assemble for their own safety. The police complex was surrounded by an 8-foot chain-link fence.

During the rally, Klan members, some wearing their traditional white robes and hats, chanted “White Power!”

When Klan speakers used racial epithets, several anti-Klan demonstrators rushed the fence and began shouting obscenities at officers who stood between the Klan and the protesters.

Within moments, rocks were flying.

Minutes later, a crowd rushed a heavily guarded side door of the police station. An alarm sounded, police officers put on gas masks and began lobbing tear gas canisters at the crowd.